Apprentice Trial Number Three
by EarthApple
Summary: Slade never was happy about his lack of an apprentice. His two past ones, Robin and Terra, would have done well. Now, he intends to make them. TerraxBB/TerraxRobin/RobinxStar
1. Chapter 1

Author note: Please understand that I will not be updating this every day or every week. I write in my spare time when I'm in the mood. I will update it as soon as I write new matieral. Please enjoy! ~

Beast Boy had been making a disgruntled face at the pizza for a few minutes and Cyborg was the first to notice his unpleasant disposition.

"Dude, why the face?" Cyborg bent down to Beast Boy's inferior height and smiled. "It's just pizza, hot 'n ready to eat!" Almost forgetting about the green teen, Cyborg slapped a few of the steamy slices onto his paper plate. All the Titans agreed, no one felt like doing dishes tonight. Disposable was the way to go, even though Starfire argued about saving trees.

"Why the face?" Beast Boy asked, as if Cyborg must be stupid not to know why his expression was frustrated. "There's meat on this pizza!" He folded his arms. "What'em I supposed to eat?" They knew he was a vegetarian. They'd known forever, how could Cyborg, of all people, forget about that? Wait, it was probably because he had a love for meat.

"BB, chill out," Cyborg answered after he inhaled a slice. "That box is mine, meat lover's. The one over there is for you, it's a veggie."

Beast Boy's face lit up and he left his previously angered feeling disappear. "I knew you wouldn't forget," he said to make up for himself, "I was just messing with you." He grabbed a few slices of the veggie pizza and took a seat in the Titan's kitchenette.

A few minutes later, Starfire wandered into the kitchen area and stopped to smell the air. "Have we forgotten to dispose of the old food in the refrigerator again?" she wondered out loud.

"No, Star, it's just all the different kinds of pizza mixing together," answered Beast Boy. His mouth was still full.

"Oh," said Starfire, unsure if she should still be concerned or not. "Is there any left?" She decided she was hungry enough to have some pizza, even if it smelled weird. Nothing was weird, according to her friends, compared to her alien food.

"Plenty!" Cyborg said, "In fact, where's everyone else? We got enough for everyone."

"Well," began Starfire, "Raven is in her room meditating. I am unsure of the location of Robin and Terra."

Beast Boy and Cyborg both stopped chewing for a second to raise an eyebrow.

"Robin's been researching who-knows-what a lot lately, but Terra, too?" asked Cyborg. "Man. Whatever Robin's doing must be serious, if he's got Terra in it too now."

"I do not know if they are together, I merely was stating that both of them have been missing for the same amount of time. It is possible they could be . . ." Starfire trailed off because Beast Boy and Cyborg had stopped listening to her and were now staring at the doorway. She turned around and instantly smiled. "Robin! Terra! You have come to enjoy pizza with us!" Somehow, she forgot about what she had just said and cared more that they had come out of hiding than the fact that they had showed up together-suggesting they were together before they came out for dinner.

Robin didn't say anything as he took a paper plate and a slice of pizza. He sat down at the counter and took a bite. Terra followed exactly as he had done, but slipped in a quick "Hey" to Beast Boy as she sat down next to him.

Cyborg didn't notice anything strange and kept munching away. Beast Boy frowned for a moment and glanced at Terra, hoping she'd look back. When she didn't, he just moved on to finishing his pizza.

Raven drifted into the room a little while later and got more tea. She stared down the pizza and considered having some, but didn't feel quite in the mood. She'd eaten something earlier and wasn't that hungry. Since she felt social, however, she sat down in the kitchenette with the rest of the team.

"So, what shall we do tomorrow?" Starfire asked. She broke the ice without noticing it and everyone else felt the awkward atmosphere lift.

"I'll be busy, I've got to figure something out," Robin replied just seconds after she asked. It was almost as if he had that line prepared in case someone should ask the question.

The rest of the Titans, besides Terra, felt a familiar worry approaching. This was exactly like how Robin acted when he was trying to track down or figure out the plans of a villain whom he felt was especially a problem. Last time it had been Slade, but they hadn't heard from Slade in a very long time now.

"I'll help you," Terra told Robin. He gave her a blank look and agreed with a short nod.

"What is it you are researching?" Starfire asked. "May I also be of some help?" She wanted to know what all the commotion was about, and more than anything she wanted in on it.

"It's pretty much taken care of, Star, but thanks for the offer." Robin swallowed some pizza and acted strangely content and normal. He didn't answer her question and knew he didn't-he hoped she didn't notice.

By now, Cyborg and Beast Boy were almost done with their pizza. Cyborg moved on to get some milk out of the refrigerator but Beast Boy's eyes moved towards Terra's hands. She wiped pizza sauce off her lips with one hand and the other held up her half-eaten slice. The hand that held the pizza shook, like the pizza was heavy, but it wasn't. Again, he tried to catch her eyes.

Terra felt like she was being watched so she turned towards Beast Boy. Their eyes met, but Terra quickly adverted. "After I'm done helping Robin, we can catch a movie or something," she mumbled.

Dinner was finished without any more mysterious comments from Robin and the team retired to their bedrooms for the night. At least, most of them did. Terra had followed Robin to the evidence room, where they kept quiet so no one else knew they were there.

"Do you really think he's back?" Terra asked. Her voice was void of emotion, besides a tiny hint of what seemed to be worry.

"It looks like it . . . we can be sure exactly, but the evidence looks like something's going on, and the signs point to him." He was sitting in a chair in front of a blinding bright-light computer screen and Terra stood behind him in pajama shorts and a loose T-shirt.

"But . . . he's not going to do anything . . . like he did before, right?" Terra frowned to herself. "I think he would just give up by now." She put her hands on her hips and watched the blue carpeted floor. She knew Robin wasn't looking at her, so trying to make eye contact was useless.

"He wants something," Robin said. "We just have to figure out what it is. When we do, we'll take him down before he has a chance to even start. We've gotten him twice before, guess he's too determined for his own good."

Like the chilly night breeze crept in from an open window, memories began to invade Robin's mind. _But how can you stop me, when you don't even know what I'm planning?_ Robin frowned. _Excellent, Robin. We appear to be evenly matched and equally ruthless. Not surprising. You and I are so very much alike._ Robin reminded himself that there were some very big differences, but his own words were the next to replay. _Focused, serious, determined . . . as much as I hate to admit it, he and I are kind of alike._


	2. Chapter 2

Author Note: I didn't expect to update this so soon . . . but I also didn't expect any story attention, either. So I suppose I was inspired by the fact that people actually read this. ;p Enjoy !

Robin swished his pool of soggy Cheerio's around in a circle until they made a milk whirlpool. He almost never had cereal for breakfast-bacon and eggs was more his preference, but he didn't feel like wasting time preparing food. He needed to get back to the evidence room as soon as possible.

"He and I are kind of alike right now!" came a voice from what seemed to Robin as out of nowhere. He whirled around in his seat and then laid eyes on the television.

"We're both nervous but we're in this together. That's why I love him. I think we'll make a perfect couple."

It was a smiling young woman in her bridal dress being interviewed on television about her wedding experience. On the couch in front of the TV was Starfire, fully occupied with the show.

Robin chose to ignore his paranoia. _Of course it was the TV,_ he thought. It wasn't what he expected: his thoughts about Slade reentering his head.

"Her dress is quite beautiful, yes?" Starfire asked once she noticed Robin had come back to life and taken notice of the television.

"Yeah," Robin agreed mindlessly. He began to go over the evidence he'd found in his mind. Familiar robots outside an old warehouse . . . they were disarmed and broken, but wore the Slade mark. Several supposed sightings of figures that matched Slade's description: _"tall man in a mask," "Large but dark figure, masked. . . ." "One eyed mask." _Recently strange mechanical devices had been showing up all over Jump City with the Slade mark on them, but none of these findings were good enough for the newspapers and reporters to even glance at. That was why no one else but him knew . . . until he told Terra. Actually, it was more accurately put as when Terra walked in on him researching and didn't tell him she was there until she saw enough to realize what was going on. He, unfortunately, remembered it well.

"So . . . he's back?"

Robin spun in his office chair and his eyes grew a little wide. He expected Starfire, since she was the most likely to try and help him with every problem he faced. When he recognized Terra instead he let himself breathe again. "How long have you been standing behind me?"

Terra shrugged and glanced away. "Long enough."

"I guess you're going to tell everyone now," Robin said. He narrowed his eyes and thought about last time this happened. Red X. "About how I'm off on Slade again and I should be watched over so I don't make any more mistakes."

"Is that what you think I'm like?" was Terra's instant response. She wasn't quite frowning at him, but she wasn't smiling, either. Her eyes were on his desk, just past him. "You think I was spying on you so I can go tell everyone else what you're doing."

Robin tried to interrupt her, but Terra continued before he had a chance to think of the right excuse for what he said.

"I'm not." She looked at him with a tiny frown. To her own surprise, her voice had stayed calm and steady the entire time. "I'm not going to tell anyone, especially not if you don't want me to. If you wanna research Slade, go ahead, I don't care." She moved some of her long hair from her face.

Robin watched her even though she turned her head so Robin couldn't see her completely. "I can tell you want information, just like I do. It's because of what he did to you. It's the same reason for me. I . . . I can't figure out how I fell for it. I should've realized."

"No," said Terra.

"If you want, pull up a chair and help me." He gestured towards and extra chair in a corner of the room. "I could probably use some informed help, whether I want it or not." He trailed off at the end of his sentence. His teammates had always reminded him he needed help but he was always too stubborn to take it. Maybe if he got over himself just a little bit this time things would turn out better.

He didn't really understand what happened after that. All he knew was that after about five minutes Terra brought the chair over and sat in it besides him with her arms folded and without another word.

_If it means you'll trust me,_ thought Terra, _then I'll . . . never mind. You guys will never trust me after that, what am I thinking? Useless. _She knew what she was and she understood her place. She was an ex-traitor, a known liar and an overall untrustworthy person. She had no choice but to be fine with that, because when you made such large mistakes people didn't forgive you for it so easily. Why was she even allowed back as a Titan? Her answer was "no idea." She didn't say anything out loud to Robin until he started asking her questions.

"Robin? Robin? Robin, will you not answer?" Starfire tilted her head to the side and her crimson hair spilled over her shoulder.

Robin returned from the haze of memories and tried to reconnect with reality. "Sorry, Star, what did you say, again?"

"I was wondering when you would be finished with your business today, as I would like to do something. Perhaps all of us can go to the mall of shopping, or . . ."

"I just woke up. I haven't had a chance to start on things yet." He stood up, washed out his bowl in the sink and scrubbed off the spoon with a sponge. "In fact, I'll get right on it." He left.

Outside the clouds were parting to reveal a warm, sunny day. There was a quiet breeze, strong enough to create small ripples in the bay water. Spring was settling in without much rain so far. But everyone knew, there would be no spring flowers without showers.

"Hey, Star!" Cyborg was the next to come into the operations room-more often known as the room with the huge TV. "You seen Robin anywhere? I added a new security feature to our system, I wanted him to check it out so I can explain how it works."

Starfire turned around to look at him and her face resembled a wilted flower petal. "He was here not so long ago, but he has departed on account of starting something." She turned back to her television program.

"Busy again?" Cyborg shook his head to himself. "This isn't looking good. You know, last time-"

"I remember what happened last time." Starfire cut into his sentence before he could explain. She didn't want to hear it.

"Well, I'll go look for him. I mean, he's probably in the evidence room or something, digging through who-knows-what to find information on who-knows-who." Cyborg wasted no time and set off to find and pull Robin out of whatever spider web he'd climbed into now.

Five minutes after Cyborg left, in came Terra, hungry. "Hey, Star," she said upon arrival.

"Greetings, friend Terra," chirped Starfire. She stood up from the couch and offered a smile. "Do you know what our friend Robin has been so busy doing for all these days?" She hoped that Terra knew and then would tell her. Robin was too stubborn too, but Terra usually would let her in on things.

"No idea," Terra said as she swung the refrigerator door open in the kitchenette. "I think he's trying to figure something out . . . or something." She wasn't thinking about her word choice and didn't realize she sounded repetitive. After searching under a few things and moving containers of mysterious things out of the way she found the leftover pizza.

"Something of what?" Starfire asked, assuming Terra just hadn't heard her right. She would answer her, wouldn't she? Why wouldn't she?

"Something of what?" Terra repeated with a dumb look of feigned misunderstanding on her face. She tore the pointed end off of a slice of cold cheese pizza.

"I was merely requesting to know if you, unlike the rest of the Titans, have discovered some information about what Robin has been so busy with recently." She smiled again, hopeful.

Terra frowned and instead of faking, she actually looked sorry, edging on dreadful. She removed her eyes from Starfire's and examined some crumbs of breadsticks from last night on the floor. "I'm sorry, Starfire . . . I don't know any more than you do." _Liar,_ she thought, stabbing herself with her own knife. She brought the pizza back up to her mouth and took off an amount suited for a mouse this time instead of her usual huge chunk. She suddenly remembered that everyone had heard her tell Robin she would help him yesterday, so she added "I said I'd help him today because I wanted to know what he was up to also, but now he won't let me."

The alarm system in Titan's Tower went off and the room flashed red on and off. The usual "BEEP, BEEP, BEEP" went off along with it.

Terra glanced up at the operations screen to check out which villain was causing the trouble and dropped her pizza when her eyes scanned over the symbol. A big orange S inside an orange circle with a black background.


	3. Chapter 3

Author Note: Lots of free time to write now, school's out tomorrow.

Terra didn't have time to pick up her pizza. Within seconds, the rest of the team charged into the operations room and gathered around the large monitor mounted on the wall of windows. A few mouths fell open and mumbling followed. Not wanting to seem stunned, Terra joined the group up front.

"Dude, this can't be right." Beast Boy shook his head and chewed on his lip. "When's this guy gonna give up?" His eyes drifted back up to the screen.

"I don't know," Robin answered, in his typical down-to-business tone. "But whatever he's going to do, we're going to stop him." He glanced around to make sure everyone on the team was present. When he saw them all, he gave the signal to set out: "Let's go."

Beast Boy was up front right behind Robin. Terra and Starfire were next and behind them Cyborg and Raven kept their distance so they could talk in private.

"Am I the only one who finds it a little weird that Slade suddenly turns back up right around the time Robin starts going all crazy for research?" Cyborg asked Raven, just barely above a whisper.

"No," answered Raven. "But we don't know what he's been doing. It could have been research, or maybe it was just training." She stopped her explanation to make sure Robin was too absorbed into his adrenaline rush to hear them. "I think it's too early to tell if there's a connection or not." She knew Robin had good intentions and she wanted to support him. Without clear evidence, she felt it unfair to say he was going "Slade crazy" again. Also, he definitely wouldn't be happy if he knew that was what his teammates thought. Everything worked out better if you just closed your mouth until you absolutely had to give your opinion.

Starfire took flight and picked up Robin to carry him across the bay. Cyborg was carried over by Beast Boy, Raven levitated and Terra tore up a chunk of their island.

Robin's shoes were the first to collide with the city cement. Cyborg was dropped next and the others soon followed. They only had to walk a minute before they found what they were looking for.

The city was void of all civilians-they knew better because they too knew how to recognize the dangerous villains from the easy ones. All cars were absent of drivers or passengers and the sounds of honking and tire screeching that used to fill the city's air were gone. No one was doing the grocery shopping and there were no voices. The wind didn't dare ruin the silence with a breeze.

Standing in place of the people, the noise, the traffic and the wind were hundreds of black and orange robots. They stood on the roofs of buildings, on top of cars, on the sidewalks and in the middle of the street. As soon as the Titans approached, all hundreds of heads turned to look at them. Yet there was no other movement and the robots didn't attack.

"This is giving me the creeps," Beast Boy squeaked under his breath.

"What's going on?" Cyborg was the first to ask the question everyone else only had in their minds. His question was said in a rhetorical way, because he knew nobody had an answer.

Terra folded her arms tight against her chest and stood behind the others at the back of the group. She didn't look at the robots after she got a quick first glance. In front of a black shadow swung by. Her head followed the movement, and as the figure slipped away she recognized it to be Robin. _Where's he off to now?_

What Terra didn't see that Robin did made all the difference. Robin had set eyes on Slade, who had appeared just as the Titans arrived. He disappeared just when he knew Robin and Robin only had caught sight, because he didn't want the entire group dashing after him.

Terra thought about going after Robin, but she knew better. If Robin was running off without telling the team, he didn't want company. _Starfire would probably call you careless for that, _she thought. _But for all she knows I saw nothing._

When Robin flew past him a few minutes into running, Slade reached out and dragged him back by the cape. Robin's back hit the side of a building and he cringed. His expression of pain was taken back as he looked to his attacker. "What does it mean?" Robin demanded. He gestured in the direction of all the robots.

"You're certainly right to the point, aren't you?" Slade asked. He had to admit, he knew Robin was always eager to know his plan, but he usual waited for at least a few minutes. "Did you find my clues, Robin? I went out of my way for you."

Robin frowned. _Don't pretend like you did a favor,_ he thought. "If you mean all the things you've been dropping around the city, then yes. The police know of sightings, if you keep it up they'll find you in no time."

Slade laughed in return to this but it wasn't a heartfelt laugh. It wasn't a mischievous laugh, either. It was emotionless, lasted just a few seconds and then died, like someone was turning down the volume on a radio with a fuzzy signal. "Glad to know you've kept up your skills. . . ."

"Get to the point," Robin snapped. _I'm sick of hearing about my skills,_ he added in his head. _I bet you'd talk about yours instead if you had any._

"Don't disappoint me, Robin, I was hoping for a nice talk."

Robin squirmed out of Slade's grip and sent a high kick towards his side. He was tired of talking about nothing. If the only way to get Slade to say something he actually cared about was to fight, he was more than prepared. He had been preparing for weeks.

Slade caught his foot and used it to flip Robin against the ground. Robin staggered up and ignored the pain in his back. He had protected his head with one of his hands, so, for now, he was still able to focus. Slade took out his staff and swung before Robin had time to do the same.

He stopped the attack with his wrists, but Slade was putting more pressure on him. "Do you remember how we fought Trigon together, Robin?" A smile broke out beneath his mask.

"What do you want?" Robin asked. His frown deepened and his eyes thinned into a glaring squint.

"I was merely reminding you of how well we worked together. Don't you remember?"

"All I remember is every horrible thing you've ever done to anyone," Robin spat. "You might have helped us then, but whatever you're doing now is proof that it wasn't a lasting relationship." He broke down under the pressure and kicked Slade's ankles as he bent down to get out of the way. As planned, Slade lost balance and fell.

"If you want me to tell you anything, I expect better behavior, Robin." Slade pushed himself up and put away his staff. He put his hands behind his back and held his wrists together. "You _do_ want me to tell you, don't you?"

"I want you to tell me why you sent us out to the city to fight motionless robots." Robin took a few steps back from Slade, to make sure he was in full view and couldn't get away with any secret exits.

"It's simple, actually," began Slade. "Beneath your city are hundreds of planted explosives, set to be trigger by any slight geological movement in this area." He turned his head at Robin and shrugged. "I suppose you're lucky Jump City doesn't have natural earthquakes."

Robin said nothing and let him continue, but at the mention of earthquakes he stood still in silence out of confusion. Slade was right: Jump City didn't usually experience earthquakes. Unless . . .

"But you do have a wonderful little geomancer who I'm sure would be delighted to try and stop all my robots with her powers." Slade straightened his posture and waited for the pleasure of Robin's outburst.

"Leave her alone," Robin said, "I think you've done enough."

Slade extracted a button from his pocket and smiled. "If you want to save her from the guilt of being responsible for this city's destruction, I suggest you get back to her quickly."

Robin flung himself at Slade and tried to grab the button out of his palm. Instead, Slade caught Robin and bent his arms crisscross across his chest so Robin was contained in a straight jacket made of his own arms. Robin struggled but Slade held on tight. "Stealing won't get you very far, Robin."

Finally, Slade let him go and Robin tumbled in the opposite direction. "We'll stop you. You can count on it."

"Don't worry," said Slade, "I will." He pressed the button and the countdown started. "Fifteen seconds until my robots come to life," he called as Robin took off.

Robin raced back to the others as quick as his feet would allow him, but he counted to fifteen and past in his head. He bit his lip and hoped Terra hadn't gotten a chance to fight yet. _Just wait a little longer, please,_ he thought.

When he came to where the rest of his team was, his eyes widened in shock. None of them were fighting, but, then again, neither were the robots. They stood like statues just as they had did when he left.

"Um, nice to rejoin the team," said Beast Boy. Robin didn't bother with him and moved straight to Terra. He put his hand on her shoulder and asked "You haven't used your powers at all, have you?"

Terra raised an eyebrow at him. "I did a few times," she said, to Robin's horror. Terra couldn't understand why he looked so mortified, so she just continued. "Star and I tried hitting a few of the robots to see what would happen."

"What did you do in specific?" Robin asked, "any earthquakes?"

"I shook the ground a little, yeah. Nothing too big, just enough to try and wake them up, you know?"

Robin removed his hand from her shoulder and stared vacantly in the direction he'd seen Slade last. "So he lied to me," he said. "But . . . why?"

"Mind telling us about this?" Raven asked.

"Yeah, if you know something, Robin, we wanna know too." Cyborg nodded to Raven-he had been right, hadn't he?

"I saw Slade," Robin said, almost against his will. He hated telling his team about Slade because he knew what they all thought about it. Besides Terra-at least he thought she understood, even if only a little. "I chased him for a few minutes. He told me there were explosives under the city that would be triggered by even the slightest geological disturbance . . ." He glanced at Terra to see her face, but she turned away. "He said he'd activate the robots so we would have to use her powers to fight them." He said "we" instead of "Terra" on purpose, because he didn't want to bring all the attention on her. "But . . . she did and nothing happened. The robots aren't even doing anything."

Starfire felt a raindrop tap her on the nose and looked at the robots. They were frozen, still. "Perhaps Slade's device was faulty and did not work as planned," she offered.

"I doubt it," Robin said. He shook his head. "Slade is the type of person who would make sure that his mechanics were set up correctly. I don't think it was an error."

Terra hadn't blinked in what seemed like forever. Her gaze was set in a random location, but her eyes were watching. _He was going to make me destroy the city._ She bit her lip a little too hard and then regretted it. It didn't bleed, but she ripped the skin a little. _I dare him to try and mess with me again, he'll be dead, and he'll be sorry._

"Let's go home," Beast Boy whined. He did so only on behalf of Terra, who he noticed seemed to be drowning in misery. At least, that's how he looked at it. "There's nothing going on here, it was all trap."

"But what if it was not?" Starfire asked with worry spread over her. "What if we leave and then something terrible happens?" She hovered just above the asphalt.

"Ow," Terra whispered. Her hand moved up to her shoulder and she frowned. She had just felt a sharp pain, like a needle point. It was gone now, but replaced by a strange chill that caused her to shiver.

"Hey, Terra, you okay?" Beast Boy asked. He didn't hide his concern for her sake anymore and walked over to make sure she was alright.

"I'm fine," she said. "I just feel weird . . . like a . . . headache or something. I probably just need some Tylenol." She smiled and nodded to him, but it wasn't the truth. Her head didn't hurt at all.


	4. Chapter 4

Author note: I thought I was going to be able to write a lot over summer, however, as of right now the only time I think I can is at night when everyone is asleep and thinks I am too. (Or in the morning when no one else is up yet.) I'm expected to be extremely social 24-7 unless I'm sleeping . . . which does not agree with my personality, but it will have to. c:

Terra had been browsing the internet for about an hour. It was now midnight and beginning at eleven an hour earlier, she had been staring at the same page. Her eyes were fixed into every pixel that made up the randomly chosen webpage but her brain didn't process any of the information. Her gaze was not on the webpage. It was somewhere in her mind. If anyone knew she was up late staring into space thinking, they would be worried. However, as long as she set it up so it looked like she was reading something, everything would be fine if someone decided to enter her room without permission.

_You should try to read it for real,_ she reminded herself. _It'll take your mind off things. _She read the first three sentences of the news article over and over. Each time only the first few words made sense. She bit her lip and made one last effort to forget what was plaguing her mind and tried to drown herself in words that had nothing to do with what she was bothered by. She made it a few paragraphs in and gave up. _This is useless._ She didn't like to read, anyway. But it was her best cover up.

The air in the room felt heavy and her limbs felt numb. She wanted to close her eyes, shut the laptop and roll onto her side in bed, but she knew if she allowed herself to it would only make things worse. The laptop's blinding screen within the darkness of her room was her only escape. She didn't want to think about it. _Please, just shut up, let me go to sleep. _

Terra imagined his one-eyed masked face peering down at her, disguising a smirk. _I thought you wanted to share my control,_ the imagination Slade said, _you should've been more specific about what you meant._ Her body felt stiff. She felt the metal and cloth cling to her skin, no matter how hard she tugged at the suit. The sensation of being pulled by an invisible force somewhere inside her followed, even though she tried to keep her feet planted on the ground. She remembered his masked face getting closer, closer, until her chin was in his hand.

_Stop it!_ She broke herself from the memory trance and shut the laptop. She pushed it aside and rolled over. The white light from the screen wasn't working anymore. If it didn't, then what would?

A few knocks sounded and Terra sat up in bed. She turned towards the door and waited a moment before asking "Who's there?" No one should have been up at midnight, unless they couldn't sleep, like her.

"Just me," said Beast Boy. From behind her door, he placed his hands behind his back. Inside his palm was a small bottle of Tylenol. He tried to hide it, afraid Terra would be mad at him for knocking on her door at such a late hour. "I was wondering if you needed s'more Tylenol. Y'know, for your shoulder, since it was hurting earlier." He didn't know what else to say, so he stopped talking.

The door opened and Terra stood before him with her arms folded. Her eyes lacked energy and her posture resembled a flower steam that had been stepped on. "You brought some for me?" she asked, even though it was obvious that was the case.

He nodded. "Yeah." He brought the bottle back into full view.

"Thanks, Beast Boy." Terra looked at him for awhile and then nodded at the bottle of Tylenol. "I think I could use some more. My shoulder's hurting again, but I think this helped the pain." She wasn't lying. It had helped the pain, just very little.

"Do you think you did something to it, to make it hurt?" asked Beast Boy. He handed the bottle to her.

Terra took it and removed the cap. "I don't know." She shook out two tablets and then gave the bottle back to Beast Boy. She watched the tablets for a moment, then mumbled "I've got a glass of water in my room." She disappeared for about a minute to swallow the Tylenol, then came back. She didn't know why she came back, because there was no reason to, besides the fact that she knew Beast Boy was still there. "You know it's like one in the morning, right?" she asked him. He stood in front of her like it was noon. He didn't droop, he didn't look tired.

"Yeah," he said. "I went to bed really early and then woke up. I'll go back to bed later."

Terra sent him an odd look because his story seemed mismatched. She ignored it, though, because her own story was much worse.

"So, why are you up?" Beast Boy asked. Terra had a feeling this question was the entire purpose of his trip to her bedroom with the Tylenol.

"How did you know I was awake?" Terra wasn't going to let him get away with such an easy answer. Plus, she was worried she did something she shouldn't have to draw attention, like talked in her sleep.

"I don't know, it was just a feeling."

Terra nodded and glanced somewhere on the floor to avoid eye contact for a moment. "I just realized," she said, "I shouldn't take Tylenol on an empty stomach. As long as you're awake, maybe we should go grab something to eat in the kitchen." She looked up at him.

They held still eye contact for seconds and then Beast Boy agreed. He started walking and Terra followed. "So, what kind of a snack did you have in mind?"

"Um, don't know," Terra answered, "maybe just some chips or cereal. I'm not that hungry, I just need to eat something."

"Does taking Tylenol without food really hurt you?" Beast Boy asked, referring to "you" as the general public. He didn't know this, so it was a new fact. Part of him was interested in the Tylenol, the other part only wanted to keep Terra talking to him. Awkward silences were not good.

"It makes me sick," Terra said. "I don't know about other people."

Once in the kitchen they settled for peanut butter sandwiches. Both of them spread as much extra-crunchy peanut butter as possible onto their two slices of bread before smashing them together. They threw the dirty knife in the sink and didn't bother with napkins or plates. Instead of staying in the kitchen area, they took seats on the operations room couch in front of the huge picture windows.

Tonight it rained. Small ripples formed in the bay as each water droplet touched the water's surface. Through the darkness the moon glowed but it was soon coated in a thick layer of storm clouds. The city looked sleepy. Most lights were off, but the streetlamps that lined the city's sidewalks still illuminated an otherwise dark Jump City.

"So, Terra?" Beast Boy turned to face her and swallowed a bite of his sandwich. It went down a little hard and he took a breath. "Is Slade what Robin's been worrying about? I mean, after what happened today . . . Robin acted like he wasn't surprised."

Terra didn't look at him for awhile. She wanted to tell him she had no idea and that she thought it was weird everyone kept acting like she knew something she didn't. Something inside her didn't allow her to lie to him, as usual. "Yeah," she said. "But don't tell anyone." Her second comment came out almost all in one word. She turned to him. "He thinks Slade's back, and now he knows for sure." She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Her half-eaten sandwich was still in her right hand.

"So, then, does Robin know why Slade's plan didn't work today? With all those robots, I mean, and Robin said Slade was trying to make you-"

"Destroy the city?" She frowned at him and moved her eyes back to the bay through the windows. "I know." She didn't say anything for a few long seconds, but eventually continued. "He doesn't know why, but he thinks it was on purpose. He thinks it was a set up for something else. Remember the probes?" For her, it was odd to talk about Robin's experience with Slade. She only knew what he had told her, but he had explained this to her right before they went to bed.

"Dude, the ones that almost killed us?" Beast Boy asked. "Did Slade put them in us again?"

"No," Terra said firmly. She wasn't amused with his sudden shock. "We don't know what he did. For now, all we can do is guess. For some reason, he dragged us out to the city and staged something. On purpose, he made it work out for us so nothing happened. But that's only what we think. He could've done something worse than anything he said, we just don't know yet." Terra was about to continue, but a sharp pain in her shoulder stopped her. "Ow," she cringed. "You . . . think the Tylenol will . . . kick in soon?" Between words, she rubbed her shoulder in hopes of ceasing the pain. But, it only got worse.

"Terra, you okay?" Beast Boy moved closer to her and set his hand on the shoulder she was rubbing. "What kind of pain is it, like a scratch, or a burn, or . . ."

"It feels more like someone's putting a thousand needles into my skin," she said. Her breathing became heavier than normal, but she didn't let herself cry or whine anymore. She didn't want to look stupid.

"Have you checked it out yet?" he asked. "Maybe you have a thorn in you, or a sliver." He had no explanations for what was going on, but he wanted to help her in any way possible.

"No," said Terra. "I just thought it was sore, like I pulled a muscle."

"Could we look at it?" Beast Boy's eyes met Terra's and he begged her without any more words to let him look. If something hurt that bad, it was about time someone investigated.

"Fine," Terra agreed. She moved her hair over her shoulders and slid down the side of the T-shirt she used as a pajama top. Soon, she felt Beast Boy's fingers on her skin. She was going to suggest more light so he could see, but it didn't take long for him to find something of interest.

"Dude," he said, "this is bad." Beast Boy didn't use his sincere voice for just anything. It took a lot for him to use it, because he wasn't focused and calm by nature.

"What is it?" Terra demanded. "You found something?" Her voice shook because she knew the tone of Beast Boy's words was a bad one.

"You've gotta show Robin," he said. "I don't know what you can do about it, but you've just gotta go tell Robin. Now."

"What?" Terra asked. She turned around to face him and frowned. "He's probably sleeping." She pulled her sleeve back up.

Beast Boy shook his head. "I wouldn't be so sure about that."

"Neither would I."The entrance of a third voice caused Terra and Beast Boy to search the room for the new person. Robin appeared on the couch next to them within a few seconds.

"I woke up to get some water and heard talking," Robin said, to explain himself. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but what's wrong?" Terra couldn't quite tell in the darkness, but it seemed as if a look of pure concern smothered his face.

"You've gotta see this," Beast Boy said, going right back into his sincere mode. He gently pulled Terra back over to him and moved the sleeve of her shirt back down for Robin.

Robin's icy silence made Terra shiver. She felt chills again, just like she had felt after the first time her shoulder started hurting, right after Robin came back from fighting Slade. "Is it bad?" she asked, since no one was talking.

Robin sighed, but his breath came out harsh. He turned away from her shoulder and shook his head. "I knew there was more to that than he told me."


	5. Chapter 5

Robin and Beast Boy hurried Terra to the bathroom. Beast Boy's hand gripped around hers as they walked her down the quiet hallways of Titan's Tower. Echoes of their footsteps trailed behind. They shut the door once all three of them were inside and Robin began to dig through drawers to find a hand-held mirror. His hasty movements and rough behavior with the contents of the drawers caused Terra to feel like she was under an attack, not being helped by two friends. Robin tossed cotton balls, Starfire's make-up brushes and Q-tips on the floor while looking for a mirror.

"It'll be better if you take your entire arm out of the sleeve," Robin said while searching. "Otherwise you might not be able to see everything."

"But I . . ." Terra was too choked up to finish her sentence. She meant to tell them, _but I don't have anything under it._

"If it hurts, I'll help you." Beast Boy put his hand on her shoulder but waited for her confirmation before he did anything further.

Maybe he was just a little too eager about this, or maybe he was just eager to help her. Either way, Terra detected it, but didn't care anymore. She was about to say _go ahead_, but Robin found his mirror and stood up with it. When he saw Terra's shoulder was still concealed, he helped move the process along without questions.

Beast Boy kept his hand on Terra but had to move it for just a moment as Robin pulled her arm out of her sleeve. Terra caught her shirt before it fell down with her bare arm and held the fabric to her chest. Robin held the mirror up, facing her shoulder. "Now," he said, "you can see it in the bathroom mirror."

Terra didn't look right away. She wasn't sure if she even wanted to. After just a few seconds, curiosity got her and her eyes drifted into the mirror in front of her. First, she just saw herself. Then, she focused on the reflection from the mirror Robin was holding to her shoulder.

A small orange circle had attached itself to her body. Inside the circle was a black "S." Around the edges of the device were sharp appendages that dug deep into her skin. Where they were breaking the surface her skin was red, a little swollen, but not bleeding. There was a light on the bottom of the object that was red.

Terra's first instinct was to stop breathing and start screaming instead, but no sound came from her throat. Her eyes were dry and showed no signs of watering. Her back stiffened and moved up and down with her controlled breaths. She opened her mouth without a word and didn't blink. Her gaze was super-glued to the reflection of her shoulder.

"It doesn't hurt right now, does it?" asked Robin. Terra shook her head slowly in a daze. "That's because the light's red. A few minutes ago when you said the pain was bad, the light was green."

Terra seemed incapable of asking questions, so Beast Boy tried to ask some for her. "How did it get on her? She wasn't even near Slade and none of the Titans did it."

"I don't know," Robin grumbled. He hated admitting that he didn't have a clue about what was going on. "But I'll find out. I know just the person who can tell me." His eyes narrowed.

Suddenly, the light on the device blinked green. Terra sprang back to life and started gasping, as if she was having trouble breathing. Two seconds later it seemed as if her legs gave out and she tumbled to the floor.

Beast Boy caught her with ease since he had been besides her and Robin kneeled down to their level. "Terra?" Robin asked, to see if she was able to respond.

"Robin," Terra said back, between breaths. Her strength seemed to have returned, but her body shivered as if she were cold. She sat up on her knees. "I-I want to go back to bed," she said. Her face was blank but her eyes showed a hint of determination to overcome her problem by herself.

Beast Boy and Robin didn't say anything in response to her. Beast Boy's face was alert and he watched Terra in confusion. Of all things, she wanted to go back to bed?

"Wait," said Terra. "Just get it off. I don't care if you have to cut me or whatever, just get it off." Her hand moved back to her shoulder and she tugged on the device. She closed her eyes and let go a few seconds later-it hurt too much, even for her. Even if she was able to take the pain, though, she knew it was connected to her in such a way that it would seem almost impossible to detach it. "It . . . won't . . . come off, will it?" She looked to Robin for an answer.

Robin sighed and was quiet. He didn't want to tell her he couldn't get it off without taking a chunk out of her shoulder. _Actually,_ he thought,_ that would be in the best case scenario. _He had a feeling what this device was for, but he wasn't about to tell Terra. "I'm going to find Slade," he said. "When I do, I'll make him explain himself and I'll make him get that thing off you, okay?"

"It's worse than you thought, isn't it?" Terra frowned and turned away from both of them, but she was talking to Robin in specific. "You thought he was just going to cause trouble, like steal something." Her eyes were finally feeling heavy and restless. She blinked slowly.

"Terra, I didn't know what he was going to do." Robin felt frustration bubble up inside him, like his body was a carbonated drink that got thrown down a flight of stairs. "I just knew something was going to happen. I don't even know what's going on right now, but I'm going to find out. When I do, Slade will be finished before he has a chance to start."

Terra checked out Beast Boy's expression (confused and a little scared) before she looked back to Robin. "Too late for that," she said. Her voice was just above a whisper and she rubbed her shoulder. "I'm pretty sure he's already got a good start on things."

Robin stood up. "I'm going now," he announced. Terra and Beast Boy weren't surprised, but gave him a look of slight disapproval. He stared at both of them for a few long moments and then turned to leave the bathroom. "I'll be back." The sound of his hasty footsteps disappeared after just a minute.

"You still wanna go back to bed?" Beast Boy asked. He swallowed hard and glanced away from Terra's shoulder. Looking at it was just too unsettling. "I'll help you back."

Terra stood up in one smooth, swift motion. "Thanks," she said. "But I think I'll be okay." She stopped in the doorframe of the bathroom and waited for Beast Boy with her hand on the wall. "You can keep me company," she mumbled without eye contact. "Y'know, if you want." She remembered about her shirt and slipped her arm back into it.

Beast Boy agreed and Terra took him back to her bedroom.

Even though her body felt like a sandbag and her eyes wanted to close, Terra meandered towards the wall of windows in her room and sat down on the floor in front of it. Beast Boy followed her, unsure of why she chose to go there, but he asked no questions.

"The city's pretty at night," she said. "I used to watch it from a few miles away, but it's better up close." A slow breath escaped her mouth and she curled up against the windows.

Beast Boy had a feeling she wasn't going to move, so he got up and brought a blanket over. He put half of it over Terra, half of it on him. "Are you scared," he asked, "of that thing?" His eyes moved to her shoulder.

Terra pulled the blanket into her arms and made a tiny makeshift pillow for her head. "No," she said.

Beast Boy fell asleep with his head on Terra's legs within the hour, but Terra stayed up for the rest of the early morning watching the city come to life. As the sun rose higher into the sky and filled the darkness up with magenta-orange, more cars came into the streets and more apartment buildings had their lights on. The rain stopped at around six, but Robin still wasn't back.


	6. Chapter 6

Author note: I realized I'm getting quite into this story . . . plus writing it helps me sleep. I think it's safe to say I'll update more often. Oh, and thank you to reviewers. 3

Robin had spent the past few hours trudging through Jump City in the rain. His hair was damp, in his face and droplets clung to his clothing. Slade knew how to time things just right. Robin hoped he was already waiting for him, concealed from anyone else within the shadows of Jump City's alleyways. But as he moved on his feet felt heavy and his breaths became shorter. He stopped to a walk to conserve energy-this was probably what Slade wanted. _He's going to show up when I'm out of breath and tired, _thought Robin. Even then, after hours, Slade didn't show.

It was all part of some game he didn't want to play and Robin knew this. If only he could get out of the game and use his coffee-sustained mind for better things. Terra was at home with a Slade device burying in her skin, though, and that alone was motivation enough. He moved on and just when he thought Slade was nowhere to be found, a sign turned up in the form of a broken mechanical part with the Slade symbol on it. Robin glanced up a few feet ahead and noticed another. _Looks like he left a trail,_ Robin noted. _Wish he'd stop hiding and just get out here._ It never worked that way, not with Slade.

He remembered his demanding voice growling into his ear: _"Not a word, Robin. They're not your friends anymore….Excellent, Robin. I'm pleased. You're already proving to be the perfect apprentice." _Just the thought made him clench his teeth and make fists. _Perfect apprentice,_ he thought, _yeah, right. Bet that's what he thought about Terra, too. _Didn't he have someone else, Robin wondered, someone who actually wanted to be his apprentice?

The trail of broken mechanics ended in front of a door that led to a flight of stairs. The stairs dipped down into darkness and seemed to be never-ending. Robin took them, and soon found who he was looking for.

"Robin," said Slade, in an instant after Robin's foot touched the ground off the last step. "I must say, I expected you much earlier." He turned his head from a few monitoring screens towards Robin. He toyed with something in his hand and then put the object in his pocket. "Much earlier, actually. Was there some sort of a delay?"

The room was wide, tall and dim. The screens in front of Slade cast a flickering glow that illuminated the space, but otherwise it was dark. The floor was concrete and Robin assumed the walls were, too. "What do you mean?" he grumbled. "I only came here to find out why you lied to me yesterday." He stopped approaching Slade and held his ground in place.

"Lied to you?" Slade repeated. Obvious amusement filled his voice. "Is that what you think I did, Robin?" Of all things, he hadn't expected to be accused of lying. He was expecting Robin to bombard him with questions about Terra first. After all, she was the set-up reason for Robin to return to him.

"You told me Terra would trigger explosives beneath the city," Robin said in a rush, like it had all been kept in perfect memory, "and your robots were stationary because you were waiting to turn them on, to cause her to use her powers to fight them." He frowned and held back an attack. His right hand clenched. "But when I got back, Terra said she had already used her powers and nothing had happened." His masked eyes moved up to Slade's hidden face.

Slade laughed for just a second under his breath. "Very good, Robin," he said. "You've figured out the first part. But really, I was expecting more."

"Tell me why you lied!" Robin barked, cutting Slade off from his train of thought.

"I did nothing of the sort," Slade answered. "I never lied to you, not entirely." He took out the object he'd had in his pocket and glanced at it before putting it back again. "When I told you the city's destruction would be Terra's fault unless you stopped her . . ." He looked to see Robin's expression. "I meant what I said." He turned to face his monitoring screens again. "What I didn't specify was at which time this would happen. You thought you saved her from a one-time deal, Robin, but it's much, much more than that."

Robin's body felt a rush of coolness settle throughout. He felt weaker from Slade's words. "Then tell me what's going on," he said. "Whatever it is, I'm going to stop you and you're going to get that_ thing _off Terra."

"So, you did find it, then?" Slade seemed to feel better knowing this. "I was afraid she would discover it for herself and hide."

"Beast Boy found it first," Robin mumbled. He didn't want to give Slade more detail than was absolutely necessary. "Then I did. We showed her in the mirror after that. You're going to take it off her." He didn't understand what the device did yet but he also didn't care. Anything that had a villain's mark on it that was attached to one of his teammates needed to go. The fact that it was Slade's mark attached to Terra only made things worse.

"Funny, Robin," said Slade. "You're the one who put it on her in the first place and now you're telling me you want it off?"

All thoughts swarming in Robin's head stopped and he snapped into angry confusion. "_What_? I would never put something like that on her, especially not for _you_." _In fact,_ he continued in his head, _I wouldn't do _anything_ for you. _

"While fighting me yesterday," Slade said, sounding rehearsed, "I stuck a few of those devices on your hands. You didn't see them because, at the time, they were too small. I programmed them to attach to only one DNA sequence when they came into contact . . . Terra's." His voice was too casual, like he was reading from a textbook. "So, when you rushed back to stop her from causing destruction, you must've set a hand on her."

Robin felt as if he had sunken into the ocean and was drowning with each explanation from Slade. He remembered setting his hand on Terra's shoulder when he got back. _That's it,_ he thought. _That explains why it's on her shoulder._ He cringed. _How could you be so stupid? _

"Since the moment of contact, my device has been tapping into her body's nervous system, connecting to all of the major areas that control movement. It's grown in size only because it had to take a little of her skin and blood to dig in far enough."

"No," Robin growled. He drew his staff and held it out in front of him as a threat. "Not again." His eyes narrowed and he tried to say more, but it was almost impossible. He didn't let it show, but he was feeling choked.

"What is it they always say?" Slade continued, ignoring Robin. "First is the worst, second's the best, third, the golden bird?" He grinned under his mask. _Third time's the charm,_ he added. "So, tell me, my third bird, would you like to save your friend from having to obey me once again?"

"Tell me what to do and I'll consider," Robin answered. All of the bitterness inside him was swelling up.

"And if I don't?" asked Slade.

Robin had had enough. He charged towards Slade with his staff at the ready and dove in with an attack from the side. The tip of his staff came so close to colliding with Slade. At the very last second, Slade threw him backwards and Robin landed on the harsh concrete floor.

"Don't be so hasty, Robin, it will only get you into trouble."

Robin pushed himself up from the ground and said, "You've gotten me into enough trouble already." He aimed a high kick towards Slade's mask. If only he could get it off. He'd dreamt of the very act so many times, only to wake up right when the metal fell from his face.

Slade grabbed Robin's leg and pushed it back. Robin stumbled, caught his balance and stabilized himself. His breathing came short again. Slade was doing especially well this morning, where as he was fatigued.

"There is one way you can save Terra," Slade said with a concealed smirk. This was the moment he had planned out for months. "Either you become my apprentice again or I'll force Terra into doing the tasks I need against her will."

Robin went numb. His breathing stopped and so did his heart. Both continued again as his mind started to race. He hated Slade more than almost anything and wanted nothing to do with him. The first time as his apprentice, he'd managed to escape Slade with limited wounds and only hatred. Terra, on the other hand, he feared, came out much worse than he did. She'd killed Slade, froze herself from life and also had to take blows from both her friends and enemies. She'd spied on them, conscious of what she was doing and what it meant and then attacked them without thought as Slade told her to. She'd watched and caused what she thought was each of the Titan's deaths. But somehow, in the end, she felt bad for it all . . . so bad, she'd rather be dead herself. Or, perhaps, she'd finally been released from Slade's mind control. Even though she was the one who tried to kill them and faked being their friend, she wasn't the one who thought of it first. Robin knew that if she had never met Slade, she wouldn't have done anything to harm them-she wouldn't have even thought about it. It was the lethal combination of Slade's pushing influence and orders and Terra's desperate want to control her powers and be "normal" again. When they went controlled by a malevolent source, emotions could be extremely dangerous. In the end, it was all due to her lack of judgment and knowledge. Robin was sure she was aware of this. Beast Boy told him that she begged him to destroy her when he found her crying in Slade's lair. He couldn't stand to let her go through that again because he knew there may not be more of her afterwards. If she'd almost succeeded once . . . he didn't want to think about it.

Robin turned towards Slade and dropped his staff. His shoulders drooped and he let out a breath. "Fine," he said. His words came out by force. "You've got a deal. I'll be your apprentice . . . as long as you leave Terra alone."

As Slade's smirk broadened, the lips of a white-haired girl frowned. She'd been watching him tease Robin into apprenticeship, but stayed far enough away so she wouldn't get in trouble. "Why doesn't he pick someone who'd actually do it?" she complained under her breath. The tone of her voice sounded much like Slade's when he was angry. She too had had enough, especially since her father wouldn't let her leave the lair. _If he'd let me out I'd show him how it's done,_ she thought. _Wouldn't he be mad if _I_ was the one who killed his stupid Titans?_


	7. Chapter 7

The rain had subsided and Jump City was now spotted with puddles. Sunlight tried to push through clouds, but it was struggling. Terra's eyes finally closed and she drifted into sleep just as Beast Boy woke up. He stretched, yawned and glanced out the window. It was overcast but that didn't mean it was going to be a bad day. His eyes settled on Terra. She had stolen most of his blanket and was wrapped up in it. _At least she finally went to sleep,_ he thought. He knew he fell asleep before she did and he also had a feeling she stayed up much longer after. For some reason he couldn't let himself leave her alone in front of the window, so he picked her up and set her on her bed. To him, it seemed much more comfortable.

Beast Boy headed out to the kitchen because his stomach was almost yelling at him, saying it was for sure breakfast time. When he got there Starfire was sitting at the counter staring into a glass of juice like it was a mystic crystal ball. Her hair was a little messy, like she hadn't bothered to make it sleek and shiny as usual.

"Hey, uh . . . what're you doing?" Beast Boy asked. He stopped for a moment in front of the refrigerator and hoped someone hadn't experimented with his soymilk again. Did they really expect him to drink real milk when someone accidentally used his in their coffee?

"Where is Robin?" Starfire responded. She didn't give him a real answer but Beast Boy thought hers was good enough. "He is not at home and he has not been for many hours, I do not know of his location and though I have tried to find out-"

"Don't worry about him, Star," Beast Boy interrupted. "He found another link or something and went to check it out. He probably stayed up all night in the library drinking coffee. Maybe he'll even bring us back breakfast." He shrugged and put on a smile. He didn't want to tell Starfire the truth because he knew there was nothing they could do about it but worry. Terra had obviously done enough worrying for the entire team combined already.

Starfire pouted and went back to watching the juice cup. "I do not want _breakfast_," she murmured. "I want Robin."

Beast Boy couldn't think of any more excuses. He wanted to remind her that that was how he felt for a very long time until Terra came back, but he knew she didn't want to hear that. Actually, it seemed almost no one wanted to hear that. Maybe he was the only one who ever really wanted her back. He wasn't always sure why, but even when he thought of her betrayal and spying, he still liked her. Maybe it meant something was wrong in his head. He wouldn't be surprised.

"So, he's gone again?" Raven had somehow appeared in the kitchen and had a cup of tea in her hand. "Any idea where he went?"

Beast Boy frowned and felt like turning into something very small, like a goldfish or a spider so no one would have to talk to him about Robin. He could lie to one friend, but two was pushing his limits. He didn't understand how Terra had done it. People were just different.

"I know where he went," said Terra. Beast Boy whirled around and raised an eyebrow at her. She stood in the doorway in her usual Titan outfit with one hand on her hip.

"Dude, I thought you just fell asleep!" Beast Boy said. He frowned. He was almost sure she had gotten forty-five minutes of sleep at most.

"Yeah, I did," Terra said, "right after you did last night."

She didn't realize what kind of information that implied to Starfire and Raven. They certainly had the wrong idea. Raven gave Beast Boy a strange look, like she was shocked Terra would allow him near her in such a way and Starfire's mouth was open a little.

"Dudes!" Beast Boy complained after a few painful seconds of being looked at, "it wasn't like _that_!" He frowned at them.

Terra didn't appear to be aware of the awkward situation she had created-that or she just didn't care. "He went to look for Slade," she continued on. Her voice was in a completely casual tone and she showed no signs of any concern. "Should be back soon." She glanced around in the kitchen and then asked "What's for breakfast?"

While Starfire seemed to have a miniature heart attack, Raven frowned as she sipped her tea and watched Terra with suspicion. Beast Boy did the same as Raven and occasionally they exchanged puzzled faces. Terra dug through the refrigerator and found nothing, so she moved onto the cupboards. She took out a granola bar and then checked the coffee pot. Since Robin wasn't there, it was empty. She played with it for a little while and eventually got it brewing.

Beast Boy snacked on crackers and watched her like she had risen from the dead. Terra never drank coffee.

"Thanks, by the way," she said to Beast Boy, "for putting me back in bed." She smiled.

"No problem, really," Beast Boy said. He ignored the expressions of Raven and Starfire.

Terra must've realized how strange it sounded to the other two because she started laughing, but just a little at first. She calmed herself and took another chunk out of the granola bar. It didn't take long for the laughter to return and when it did, it was almost a cackle.

Starfire's face twisted into something similar to deep concern but she gulped down some juice to try and distract herself. Raven thought, _that girl really needs to do some meditation sometime to control herself, _but said nothing.

A single tear fell from her eye and then Terra feel asleep in the kitchen. Without a word, Beast Boy carried her back to her room and put her back in bed. Everyone's questions seemed to have answered themselves when she fell asleep-it was all from delirious fatigue.

After a few minutes, Starfire entered Terra's room and gave Beast Boy a worried look. He was sitting at the edge of her bed, mostly just to make sure she stayed asleep this time. "Do you think what she said was the truth?" Starfire asked. "Did Robin really go to seek Slade?"

Beast Boy's lips made a thin line before he turned to face Starfire. He didn't make eye contact. "I don't know for sure," he mumbled. He hoped that if he sounded unclear she wouldn't understand enough to freak out. "He said something and left somewhere but he didn't really tell us anything."

"Perhaps we can find Cyborg and together we can look," Starfire suggested. She glanced at the floor. Beast Boy heard her take a deep breath. "I have a feeling that this time things are very bad," she said, "but I cannot tell Robin. I do not want him to worry about how I am feeling."

Beast Boy nodded. "I know, but, he'll probably turn up soon." He gave her a weary smile.

Together they sat in silence at the end of Terra's bed for about a half hour. Sometimes they chatted about things other than what they were concerned about, like how Cyborg was doing installing the new security system. Neither of them knew what he was really doing, because he'd said that he had to tell Robin first. Not that anyone truly knew where he was. When Beast Boy was pretty sure Terra would stay asleep, they moved on to the operations room to watch TV to pass the time.

Terra heard a noise in her room and stirred a little under her sheets. She moved some hair from in front of her face and grabbed onto a pillow. Her eyes still begged to be closed, but with the noise a new feeling of nervousness crept into her. She turned and pulled the blankets over her head in hopes that they might somehow protect her from the sounds.

Before she knew what was happening, someone pulled the covers off her. Terra rolled over to see who had done it and her mouth was greeted with someone else's hand. Her noise-maker pinned her to the bed with one of their hands blocking Terra's mouth so she couldn't speak and the other holding her wrists together. Her body was trapped beneath the other person and they had their legs around her. She tried to ask what was going on but her words were muffled.

"Hi," said her captor. "Did you sleep well?"

Terra frowned and examined the other girl. She seemed to be about her age and had long white hair and blue eyes-well, eye. One of her eyes was covered by a black eye patch. Almost right away, Terra made a connection but didn't say anything about it. What if she was wrong, wouldn't she sound stupid?

"I guess it doesn't matter if you slept well, because soon you might not be sleeping much." She smirked and tilted her head to the side. "I'm taking you back with me." Her long hair fell onto Terra's messy blonde and the two colors seemed to mix.

Terra squirmed around so much that the other girl finally let her speak. As soon as she moved her hand, Terra demanded, "Who are you and why are you taking me somewhere?"

For a few moments the other girl frowned at her without much emotion as if she were carefully considering what to say. _Tell her my real name or the other?_ she thought. _You're not really acting like a villain to her just yet, besides, she'll hear dad call you by your real name eventually._ "Call me Rose," she finally said through clenched teeth. She didn't want to answer, but the girl had to call her _something_, after all. "As for why I'm taking you somewhere, it's because I can, got it?"

Terra's lips made an up-side-down smile and she turned away. "Did . . . someone . . . send you, by any chance? To get me?" Her breaths came slow and steady but it was obvious she was shaken.

"What?" Rose's frown deepened and she put her hand back over Terra's mouth. "Stupid question. If someone did send me, why would I tell you?"

Terra shrugged beneath Rose's hold. From lack of sleep, her mind was lacking ideas of how to escape. She couldn't use her powers indoors and even if she did, she'd break things and that was a bad idea. She would just fight this girl off later when she was feeling better.

Rose took Terra by the hands and pulled her out of bed. She proceeded to tie Terra's hands behind her back and even though Terra struggled, her lack of energy made everything easier for Rose. Then, and idea came to Terra. There was something she could still do. While Rose was busying fixing her up so she couldn't move very easily, she yelled "Beast Boy! Raven! Star! Cyborg, hel-!" Rose slammed her hand against Terra's mouth and glared.

"Don't even think about trying that again, you stupid ex-apprentice," Rose growled.

This comment hit Terra somewhere that she hadn't expected and she grew silent in an instant. _How does she know that?_ Terra wondered. Her eyes drifted back to Rose's eyepatch. No, she was for sure wrong about a connection. Rose was just another villain trying to disrupt the Titans-wait-then why was she kidnapping _her_? Right as all of this Slade business started up again?

Rose took Terra to the window she'd come in from and she descended down a rope, still clutching onto Terra. "If you don't want to fall and die, I suggest you hold on too."

Terra obeyed and clung to the rope as Rose moved towards the ground. She watched the terrain get closer and thought about pulling up a few rocks and using them against Rose. _If I hit her, I'd end up hitting me too,_ she thought. _We're too close._ She closed her eyes and frowned.

"Aren't you glad the security system's down right now?" Rose asked sarcastically. She sure was glad and she knew Terra felt opposite. "Good thing Cyborg's working on a better one, maybe it'll be at least a _little_ hard to get in next time."

When they got on the ground, Terra tried to run, but Rose caught her by the neck of her shirt and pulled her back before she got more than a few feet. "I don't think so," Rose said. "Do you really think running away will solve everything?" She smiled. "Oh, that's right. You do."

Terra fell quiet again. She had no idea how Rose knew all of these things-no one knew that-well, no one besides. . . . "You want to tell me how you know all of this stuff or are you going to just keep it from me?"

Rose laughed a little and said, "Not telling you is a lot more fun."

Rose took her back to a long flight of dark stairs in the middle of the city's alleyways. They went down and Rose kept her hand pressed against Terra's lips the entire time. "Don't even try to make a sound," she said. "If you do we're as good as dead."

Terra didn't think speaking would be a problem until she saw a familiar array of monitoring screens mounted on the wall. Then, she saw a familiar dark figure dressed in black and orange. His one-eyed mask was facing a smaller figure. Within seconds, Terra recognized Robin. She tried to scream to get his attention, but all that came out was "Mmmmfffft!" She tried again and again and each time Rose cursed under her breath. Finally, after about the fifth try, Rose hissed, "Shut up!"  
They walked for a few minutes after passing Slade and Robin. Rose approached an almost hidden door and opened it. She threw Terra inside and Terra fell over from the force. Rose shut the door behind her and locked it. She slipped the key into her bra and Terra frowned at this-not so easy to get it now.

"Listen," Rose snapped at Terra, who was still on the floor since she couldn't use her arms to get up. "The bathroom's that door." She pointed to the only other door connecting to the room besides the entrance. "Bed's right there." She gestured to a pretty daybed with a canopy of sheer fabric draped over it.

Terra took this chance to look around the room. There was a desk with a computer, a dresser, a full length mirror and two nightstands around the bed. All of it was decorated nicely and the style seemed to be for a girl. The bed comforter was lavender and the pillows were black, matching a rug in the center of the room. There was a vase of dead roses on one of the nightstands. "Is this . . . your room?" Terra asked in surprise. Of all places to be kidnapped and thrown into, the kidnapper's bedroom?

Rose nodded and folded her arms. "It's the only place he won't look," she mumbled.

Terra managed to stand up and gave Rose a curious look. She held out her wrists. "Could you . . . untie me?" She hoped Rose would because she seemed to be in a better mood now than she had been earlier. "I'm already trapped in here. You might as well let me use my arms."

Rose watched Terra with a distasteful look for a few seconds and then nodded. "Fine," she agreed. "Just don't touch anything that's not yours. If you destroy something in here, I'll destroy you. Sound good?"

"Whatever," Terra said. She didn't like threats. Rose removed a knife from her pocket and cut her free. "So, you lied," Terra added afterwards. "Someone really did send you."

Rose smirked and shook her head. Her arms were folded again. "Actually, no. I went by myself out of my own want." _He'll be so mad,_ she thought, _when he sends Robin to get Terra and she's not there._ Her eavesdropping skills were paying off.


	8. Chapter 8

"I don't get the point," Robin growled. "If you promised to leave Terra alone if I obeyed you, then why are you making me kidnap her and bring her here?" His eyes narrowed and his teeth clenched. His fingers formed fists.

"I never said I would leave her alone," Slade pointed out. "I merely said I would not force her into apprenticeship instead if you." Behind his mask, he smiled. He loved how Robin found loopholes in his plans after he agreed to them. "One of you has to do it, Robin. Whether it's you or her, I don't care."

"Fine," Robin agreed. "I'm going." _But I'm not happy about it,_ he continued in his mind. The worst part of this order, to him, was that he wasn't even allowed the visual excuse of a uniform provided by Slade. When he was dressed the part of an apprentice, it was obvious he was up to no good and didn't like it. He was dressed in his normal clothing, though, and Terra wouldn't even realize why he was forcing her to go back with him. She'd probably think he was crazy-or would she? Was there a chance she would understand, unlike everyone else? Somewhere in his head he believed so.

When Robin approached Titan's Tower a frown appeared on his face and he tried not to look at the Tower, as if he was afraid to make eye contact with it. He had to walk into his own house as an enemy but still looking like a friend. He couldn't stand it. _I wonder if this is how Terra felt,_ Robin wondered. _Maybe I can ask her after I kidnap her._ His frown grew.

Robin's feet dragged him along to the top floor, where he assumed Terra would be with the others. He focused on wiping the scowl off his lips-no need to look suspicious, even if he felt suspicious.

"Yo, Robin!" Cyborg rushed to greet his leader. "We've been looking for you all day, man, where've you been?" Robin opened his mouth to figure out a decent response but Cyborg cut him off, thankfully. "Never mind. I've gotta show you the new security system."

Robin knew this wouldn't be allowed with Slade. To him, it would be a waste of time. However, to his surprise, the hidden microphone in his ear gave a different answer. _Go with him, Robin, _Slade said. _If you don't, how else do you expect me to know the way around your new security?_ It was extremely difficult for Robin not to attack the nearest object in an outburst of rage but he kept things under control with a heavy breath. "Take me to it," he said. "I'm glad you got it up and working." As he followed Cyborg, he scoped each room and hallway for Terra.

Cyborg stopped in the security room and happily explained everything to Robin. Robin wasn't sure if he even understood any of the words Cyborg spoke because he was too busy thinking about the fact that Slade was hearing him also and probably taking extensive notes. _The Titans are in too bad of shape,_ he thought as Cyborg went on talking and demonstrating, _without me or Terra. We're the only ones who know anything useful about Slade and how to stop him._ He folded her arms and nodded along. _Slade probably knows that, that's why he's removing both of us._

"Robin!" Starfire squealed. She ran into the security room and squeezed Robin almost until he couldn't breathe anymore. "I was so worried about you," she said. Her voice was in a hurry. "Where have you been? Is it true you had gone to look for Slade?" She let him go and stepped back.

"No, who told you that?" He raised an eyebrow. "I went to grab some breakfast. Kind of got side tracked in the library." A smile came to him. It was half faked. He wished he could just stay here with her as normal.

"I am so glad!" Starfire said. Then, she realized she was interrupting Cyborg. "Sorry!" she chirped and left the room.

After Cyborg finished, Robin asked, "Do you happen to know where Terra is?" He hoped it wasn't weird to ask something like that. Perhaps it would've been wiser of him to consult Terra about proper spy behavior.

"Beast Boy said she was sleeping in her room," Cyborg answered. "Apparently she didn't sleep at all last night so now she's crashing all day."

Robin felt a tiny pain fall on him. _She didn't sleep because of Slade and me_, he thought. _Now she's really not going to sleep._ At least if she was asleep she'd be easy to kidnap. He hated thinking like that. "Thanks," he told Cyborg. "I think I'm going to go see how she's doing if she's awake."

Cyborg nodded and Robin moved on to Terra's bedroom. When he went inside, there was no one there. The bed sheets were all thrown off the bed and her window was cracked open. _She must've gotten up and went somewhere,_ he thought in disappointment. He went back into the security room to run a scan of the Tower to find her location. He didn't have time to wander into every room and look. After typing in her name and clicking "Search Area," the computer began trying to pinpoint the location of Terra. In just a few seconds, angry red letters appeared that said "SUBJECT NOT PRESENT ON GROUNDS." Robin pounded his fist. _That doesn't make any sense,_ he thought. _How could she not be here?_ "She's not here," Robin told Slade. He was almost glad.

Slade ran his own series of tests on the Tower and came out with the same answer. He didn't know what to think. "My results say the same," he told Robin. "I'll run a scan of the city." _She has to be somewhere. _The second results are what caused him surprise. "It says she's not anywhere in the city, either." His vision was fixed on a few monitoring screen above. One showed Robin but the others showed various other locations in the city. This plan was supposed to go smoothly. This had not been at all anticipated.

"Then what do you expect me to do?" Robin asked in frustration. "I hope you don't expect me to find her with conditions like this."

"No," said Slade firmly. "I have a feeling it won't take her long, now, to show up. . . ."

Robin could hear him shuffling around. "What are you doing?" he demanded. "You promised not to make her do anything."

"I'm not going to," he said. He turned on the device connected to Terra. His plan was not to make her get up and go, but simply cause a little discomfort to see if her signal would reappear on the screens. Sometimes it took a little movement for the scanners to detect a subject. To his surprise, a short cry of pain came from behind him. Slade turned around but found no one. A few more echoed through his hideout and he switched off the device. _There's no way she's already here,_ he thought, _there's got to be some mistake . . . a coincidence._

Inside Rose's room, Terra's breaths came out hard but relieved. The pain in her shoulder had become almost unbearable but it had only lasted a few seconds. She didn't know what Slade was up to, but she was determined to let him know how she felt about it as soon as she saw him again.

Rose flew out of her room in a panic and headed towards Slade. When she found him, she made herself sound stressed and limped a little. "I'm sorry, daddy, for screaming," she said. "I . . . I stepped on a nail, but I'm okay now."

"Thank goodness," Slade murmured to himself. For a moment, he thought the yells had come from Terra. That would have been a nice twist of plans, though. "If you need, Rose, there's a first aid kit in the hall bathroom."

Rose scurried off. When she got back to her room, she glared at Terra. "Don't make so much noise," she snapped. "I'm not going to cover for your stupid accidents next time."

"Why not?" Terra asked. "If Slade figures out I'm here in your room, you're in trouble." She frowned and asked, "By the way, _why _are you here with him? Are you his new apprentice or something?"

Rose tilted her head and smirked. "You better wish that's all I am," she said. She found it amusing how Terra didn't know who she really was. Part of her wanted to keep it like that.

As Slade had ordered, Robin got away again from his teammates without questions and went back to Slade's lair. He was to help Slade look for Slade from there, using his hidden cameras. _It's better Terra's missing, _he thought. _I'm sure even she would agree she'd rather be lost than with Slade._


	9. Chapter 9

It had been a few hours and Robin was feeling frustrated again. His hands were behind his back, matching Slade's, as they stood together in front of a series of large monitoring screens. Jump City was getting dark. Every now and then they'd switch viewing locations and sometimes a citizen or two would walk into view. He couldn't understand why Slade was still looking for Terra-she was obviously not around_. Maybe she knew what was going to happen,_ he thought, _so she got out of the city as soon as possible._ He frowned. As much as he'd like to believe that, he didn't think Terra would just run away. Sure, she'd done it before, but again? _Maybe it's Slade. She doesn't like him and I guess if she was going to run away, he'd be the cause._

"Look, Slade," Robin tried to reason, "this isn't getting us anywhere." It was odd how he wanted to find Terra as much as Slade, just not to give her to him.

Rose stood with her arms folded in front of her door. Terra watched her from the bed with a stale look. Both of them were getting bored. Rose thought about leaving to do something, but then Terra might escape. She decided to make light conversation, because it wouldn't kill either of them-it would only kill time. "The only reason I've got you in here is to _stop_ his plan," Rose told Terra without eye contact. She glanced around her room, not really interested in what she was seeing, just so she didn't have to stare down Terra. "I'm sick of his plans with you guys. It's pathetic."

Terra raised an eyebrow. This didn't make any sense to her. "Why?" she asked. "Don't you work for him?" Maybe she was growing to be like her and how she felt after awhile of working for Slade. In other words, maybe she'd decided she didn't want to anymore.

"No," said Rose.

"Then why are you here?"

Rose didn't feel like answering. "You know, it's kind of late. Maybe we should just go to bed." Better than being interrogated.

This comment caught Terra off guard because it was an obvious subject change. "Um, I guess so," she said, "but if this is your bed, where'm I supposed to sleep?" She crossed her legs on top of Rose's bed. If she had to, the floor was alright-she'd slept in caves, on sand and on park benches before, so she'd be fine-but a bed or something would be better.

"With me," Rose said.

Terra unfolded her legs and sat up. "Wait a minute," she said. "You're joking, right?"

"No." Rose bent down and dug under her bed. She stood up again with a long piece of rope and smirked. "If I let you just sleep on your own somewhere, you might run away. Wouldn't want that."

Terra stood up and tried to figure out a way around it. Before she had much of a chance, Rose pushed her back on the bed and was on top of her, legs over her chest. "What do you think you're doing?" Terra complained. "Get off!" Terra reached for Rose's wrists and tried to hold them back, but Rose seemed to be able to read her mind and stopped her before she could. Rose reached back and pulled a katana-style sword forward. She set it down across Terra's neck and told her to stay still. Terra had no problem complying but she did so with a scowl. Without another word, Rose tied Terra's wrists together and then attached them to one of the iron rods that made up her bed frame.

"I really don't feel like staying up all night looking for her," Robin told Slade. "If you want to, go right ahead. But, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed." He frowned because he realized he'd be sleeping somewhere on the floor in Slade's lair. Fun.

"I expect you to help me, Robin." Slade took a seat in a metal chair in front of the screens. His tone told Robin he was just as frustrated with Terra's disappearance. His plan was failing, because of a rather elusive geomancer.

"You expect me to do a lot of things, Slade," Robin said. "Doesn't mean I want to. You're going to stay up all night anyway."

Slade's eye narrowed a little and he turned to face Robin. Making fun of his sleeplessness, was he? He began to wonder how Robin would act after a day or two of no sleep. Maybe a few slipped caffeine shots would do the trick. Behind his mask, a smile formed.

Terra didn't like the idea of having to sleep in her Titan uniform, but she wasn't about to bring that up with Rose since the only way she'd get a change of clothes would be if Rose put them on her. Leaving the sword on Terra, Rose changed into pajamas in her bathroom. The constant lack of even the slightest movement made Terra nervous. She really hoped Rose wasn't going to make her sleep with it on her.

Rose returned and pulled back the covers on the bed, only on the side she was to sleep in, at first. She watched Terra for an uncomfortable amount of time in the geomancer's opinion and then removed the sword from on top of her. She laughed a little as Terra cringed and mumbled, "You know, it wouldn't have hurt you." She lifted her up a little and then pulled the covers down on Terra's side as well. "I don't really want you in my bed," Rose said, "but if . . . Slade . . . comes to check on me during the night or something creepy like that, I don't want you to be so obvious. Oh." She paused and frowned at Terra's shoes. "We've gotta get these dirty things off you first." Without waiting for what Terra thought about it, Rose removed her shoes. She looked at her belt and gloves and said, "These have to go too, they're too bulky." Once those were off, she hid them under the bed. Rose turned off her light and slipped under the covers. She pulled them over both of them, but added a large pillow over Terra's head. "Sorry," she said. Her voice was shaken a little by a smothered, bitter laugh. "But one, I don't want to remember you're there, two, can't let you be seen so easily."

Robin meandered around through the lair like a dog looking for a good sleeping spot before he found a suitable area. He leaned against the wall for awhile but eventually switched positions to the floor. It was hard and smelled like dust and metal. After a few minutes of struggling to get comfortable, to his surprise, Slade approached with a sort of peace offering, in his mind: a pillow and blanket.

"Wouldn't want you to wake up in a bad mood, Robin," Slade said, still with a hidden grin on his face. He handed the bedding to Robin then turned to leave, before Robin had a chance to say something.

Now it was much easier to get comfortable. With his head on the pillow and blanket wrapped around him, Robin drifted into sleep within thirty minutes. With everything on his mind, he hadn't expected to sleep so soon, but he needed the energy.

As soon as Slade was certain Robin was asleep, he prepared a syringe.

Author Note: Wow! Sorry for such a long break. I got busy and I still am but I got an idea on how to continue. (;

Anyways, when I wrote this, everything that happened hadn't been planned but now it is, if that makes sense.


	10. Chapter 10

From what Slade knew about Robin, caffeine wasn't a foreign substance to his body. That meant he could give him a higher dosage of caffeine initially-more so than he could to someone who wasn't a frequent consumer of the substance. He filled the syringe with the equivalent of about six cups of coffee. Seven was nearing a dangerous number because it was the number that was considered an over-dose when reached. Just because he wasn't so sure how Robin would-or could-handle it, he stayed safe with one under the limit.

Robin didn't roll in his sleep so he was in the same position as he had been in when Slade checked to make sure he was asleep a few minutes before. He thought about using caffeine pills instead of the shot, but getting Robin to ingest them would be too difficult. _Good morning, Robin,_ Slade thought as he slipped the needle into his skin. He pressed until everything was flowing through Robin's bloodstream. Soon his body would go into a false mode of panic. Soon he would be up with him against his will. It was such a shame he had to force Robin like this. Or was it?

Robin was having a dream of his friends back at Titan's Tower. Starfire was trying to feed everyone alien food, Cyborg was bragging about a new feature in the T-car, Beast Boy was playing video games, Raven was reading and Terra was . . . wait a minute. His eyebrows bent in his sleep. Where was she? Hallways flashed in front of him as his dream self moved through the Tower in search. Just as he reached her bedroom door, his eyes opened with a jolt and his breathing was heavy. He looked around and the walls of Slade's lair appeared as a blurry mesh. It made him feel dizzy so he closed his eyes. In his chest, his heart was beating fast. Once his eyes had adjusted, he pushed himself off the floor into a sitting position. He moved one of his hands towards his head to brush through his hair but stopped midway. Extending his arm out in front of him, he watched his fingers and hand shake as if some sort of vibration was coming from within him. Throughout his body, he could feel the surge of excitement. That was great, except, right now he wanted to sleep. _What's with me?_ he wondered. _What time is it?_ He was hoping it'd been one of those situations where he'd go to bed and it'd seem like only a short amount of time had passed when he woke up seven hours later.

His feet felt a little bit like heavy weights at first while he looked for a clock of some sort. The feeling wore off and he was starting to feel awake-very awake, actually. _It has to be morning, _he thought. He came back to where Slade sat with his monitoring screen and frowned. The time shown at the bottom right-hand corner of each screen was 12:31 AM.

"What's wrong, Robin?" Slade asked from a chair. He turned around and continued, "Can't sleep?"

Robin raised an eyebrow. It seemed odd that he instantly came to that assumption but when he thought about it, it was the most logical one to make. "Yeah," he answered. "I guess I can't."

"I guess you'll have to join me in search," Slade suggested. It sounded more like an order to Robin and he didn't like it. "Terra's still nowhere to be found. . . ." He was about to ramble further, but a thought came into Slade's mind and stopped him. A strange feeling had entered his body-a feeling like someone in his lair knew more than they were telling. "Robin," he began, "you wouldn't happen to _already know_ the whereabouts of Terra, would you?" His eye narrowed in suspicion at the leader of the Teen Titans.

Robin's lips pressed into a firm line and his eyes glared. "No," he answered. _What a stupid thing to ask, _he thought. _He knows I want to know where she is just as much as he does._ "I don't."

"It would explain why she's unable to be located. You've hidden her from me, haven't you, Robin?" Slade turned away from the monitors. To him, the answer was clear now. Terra wasn't out in Jump City or the areas around it. Robin had come up with some clever place to put her, to keep her away from him.

"_No_," Robin said in a growl. He couldn't understand why Slade seemed so certain about this. "I want to find her just as much as you do, Slade," he explained. "I have no idea where she is. She probably ran away." He didn't like to think about that but it was a possibility. She had a good reason, anyway. When Slade gave him a skeptical look, he added, "Look. She probably got freaked out about all of this. You did enough to hurt her last time. If I was her, I might run away too." His determination to stop every plan Slade created would keep him from doing that in reality.

Slade motioned to Robin's belt and said, "Your communicator. Take it out."

"What?" Robin asked. "No. I'm not going to track her or anything for you. She'd be smart enough to leave it somewhere, I don't think she'd take it with her if-"

"Take it out, Robin, _now_."

Robin took out his communicator and looked back at Slade for approval. "What exactly do you want me to do?" His voice was bitter.

"Call the girl, Robin, and I'll trace the signal you're sending out from your communicator to where hers is. That is, if hers hasn't been destroyed. As long as the signal can connect to it, I can trace it." He walked over to the control panel in front of the screens and typed in a few commands.

Robin frowned and looked at the communicator for awhile. He wanted to know where she was and hoped she'd pick up to talk, but at the same time, Slade would learn where she was. He opened it and sent a call to her.

In Rose's bedroom an annoying, themed beeping had started. Rose rolled over to the edge of the bed and complained, "What the hell is that awful sound?" It wouldn't have been so bad during the time she was awake. Anything that woke her up was automatically annoying. She shuffled around in the bed looking for the source of the noise but found nothing. Since she had no luck and the beeping still persisted, she shook Terra awake and demanded, "What's that sound?"

Terra was groggy and grumbled a little before she listened to the familiar chime. Then, a voice came through. _Terra? Where are you? Pick up, it's Robin._ "It's my communicator!" she said, sitting up.

Slade almost jumped when the signal tracked back to his hideout. "That's odd," he said just above a whisper. "It says it's not more than a couple dozen yards away." He spun around to look at Robin. "This doesn't make any sense," he pointed out. "You better not have done anything to corrupt the signal."

"I didn't do anything," Robin said. "It means she's already here."

"Then why don't you find her for me, Robin," Slade said. "She should be in that direction." He pointed. "And not very far away from where we're standing here. I suggest you keep calling because you'll be able to hear her communicator going off as you approach."

_I already knew that,_ thought Robin. "I'll go find her." He started off but stopped to glance back at Slade. He hoped this wasn't some sort of trick.

Once the sound stopped, Rose set her head back on the pillow and said, "It better not go off again." She spoke too soon, because it soon did, much to her dislike.

"Okay, where did you put it?" Terra asked. "If you just give it to me . . . wait." She remembered she had her wrists tied up to the bed. "Answer it for me?"

"Are you crazy?" Rose asked, annoyed. "It's probably one of your friends looking for you. No way we're letting them have an idea about where you are or what you're doing."

"Look, it's just going to keep ringing." Terra said. "You might as well."

"Or not," said Rose.

"Slade," Robin called back, "It's coming from this room but I can't get into it. The door's locked."

Rose spit out a few curses and threw the covers off the bed. "He's right outside," she said in a harsh whisper. "Damn it!" She repeated the last phrase a few times and then turned to Terra and tossed the pillows away from her. She yanked at the ropes that held Terra to the bed in hast. _I don't have a lot of time,_ she thought. _Gotta make a plan._ She decided she could put Terra in the bathtub since she knew no one would look in her bathroom for her. Although her reflexes were better than most people's, the knot she'd made was strong.

"What's going on?" Terra asked, mimicking Rose's low voice. She heard Robin and knew it was him but she didn't understand why Rose was in such a panicked hurry.

Slade stood in front of Rose's door and frowned. "I don't understand," he said. "You're positive it's coming from inside here?"

Robin nodded and called Terra again. "Listen."

Sure enough, Slade could hear the sound of her communicator ringing inside. "The door locks from the inside," he said. " There is a way to open it from outside, but I don't have the key."

Rose's eyes lit up after she heard Slade. "He doesn't have the key!" she said in relief, still hushed. "Of course!" She stopped untying Terra and let out a breath. She could just pretend she was too much asleep to hear them.

"I should have a master key with me," Slade said. Robin nodded as Slade went through a pocket. His body still felt like a constant surge of electricity was flowing through him, forcing him to be awake. He didn't suspect anything yet.

Rose shook her head and said, "Hell with it." She bent down and pulled out the sword she'd laid across Terra earlier and sliced through the ropes in a single motion. Terra closed her eyes and opened them only when she was certain her hands were still intact.

Slade opened the door. It was dark so Robin felt along the wall for a light switch. He found one and flicked it up. Slade and Robin's eyes traveled immediately to the same place: the bed.

Rose had her legs over Terra's body, sword in one hand, Terra's wrists in the other. Rope still clung to them and to the bed's iron rods since the middle that connected the two had been severed. Rose's long hair, like Terra's, was a little messy from the short time they'd been able to sleep. She turned to face Slade and Robin with a blank look that told nothing. Terra had an expression somewhere in-between happiness and fear; happy relief from seeing Robin and fear from Rose, her sword, and Slade's unwanted presence.


	11. Chapter 11

For what seemed to be the longest time, Slade and Robin were speechless. Both of them couldn't take their eyes off the two girls, yet at the same time, both of them wished they hadn't seen anything. Robin's eyes were wide and his mouth opened a little, as if he had meant to say something that never made it out of his head. Together, after a few seconds of decision, they demanded, "What's going on here?" Realizing they'd spoke in unison, Slade and Robin looked at each other with a bit of awkward annoyance before turning back to Rose and Terra.

Rose took a shaky, quick breath as she held Terra's wrists in her hand. She dropped the sword and let it fall off the side of the bed and her lips curled into a thin smirk. This was her chance to explain in a way that wouldn't reveal her true actions-but it had to be good, because Robin and Slade, she knew, were clever enough to notice a thrown-together lie. She looked down at Terra's fearful expression and her grin widened a little. _Kind of cute when she's scared,_ she noted. Now, she had an idea. "I'm sorry," she mumbled, looking at Slade with guilty eyes. "But when I heard you were going to take her as an apprentice again, I just couldn't let you have her . . . because_ I_ want her." She leaned down and wrapped her arms around Terra's neck, laying her head on her chest. "And you can't be mean to her, you just can't, she's too cute for that." Her voice came out muffled since she was pressed into the geomancer.

Robin's face went from surprised to stunned and he stepped back. He accidentally bumped into Slade as he did and quickly moved forwards again. Not saying anything, he looked at Slade for an answer.

Terra, to Rose's liking, whined a little from Rose's hugging. She closed her eyes tight and frowned. She had no idea what was going on. Her kidnapper had told her such a mixture of strange things, she didn't know what was real anymore. Since Rose made no effort to get off her, Terra asked, only loud enough for her to hear, "_What are you doing?_"

"_If you don't want him to put you back in that body control suit, you better shut up and go along with it_," was Rose's response.

Beneath his mask, Slade's face had finally relaxed. Still, he didn't know what to do about it. Something like this had never happened before. "Rose," he said, "how did you find her?" His voice was strained, but serious enough to make her answer.

"I found her trying to run away yesterday," Rose said. "So I caught her, told her she couldn't, and took her here . . . because I knew you'd be mad if she got away." She hoped her technique was working. She aimed to confuse Slade so much he'd give up on forcing an explanation out of her. "It was for you," she said, "a gift. But then I realized I didn't want you to have her again, so . . ." She purposely trailed off.

Robin couldn't figure it out. Who was this white-haired girl, what had she done to Terra, why wasn't Terra objecting in any way, why was Slade talking like he knew her . . . ? He folded his arms. "Who is she?" he asked, gesturing at Rose while turning to look at Slade.

Slade thought a moment then began, "She's my dau-"

"Apprentice!" interrupted Rose. She sat up and stared at Slade. Why would he just tell Robin the truth? It was ridiculous. He must've gotten stupid.

Now Slade grew puzzled too. He and Rose watched each other in silence, trying to figure out why the other had responded in such a way.

"If she's your apprentice," argued Robin, "then why do you need me?" The edges of his lips dipped down towards his chin and his eyebrows bent towards his nose. When Slade didn't answer, he caught eye contact with Terra.

As soon as Terra saw that only Robin was looking at her, she mouthed "help" and frowned.

Robin nodded and stepped forwards until he was near enough to grab Terra's wrists from Rose. He did so with little effort, because Rose was too busy eyeing Slade to care about what he was doing. Without telling anyone anything, he picked Terra up off the bed and carried her out of the room. To his surprise, he was not followed.

He brought Terra to where he'd been sleeping and eased her onto the pillow. "What's going on?" he asked. This time his voice was concerned and much friendlier. Terra bit her lip and looked away. If she told him the truth, that she didn't know, he'd get mad at her for lying. She tried to fold her arms instinctively, but the rope held her wrists together. Maybe it was better to stay silent.

"Come on, Terra," he pushed, "you have to tell me. I can't solve anything if I don't know." Why did she always have to be so difficult? In a way, it was sort of like a challenge. Everyone else would answer him so easily, but he had to almost force information out of her most of the time.

"I just want to go back to bed," Terra complained. "And you have to let me. I didn't get any sleep last night, and if I don't tonight I'll . . ." She blushed and stopped.

"You'll what?" Robin asked. He didn't know how to finish the sentence for her, though if he did, he would've tried.

"I c-can't concentrate anymore," Terra mumbled. "If I can't concentrate, I can't . . . can't . . con . . ." Seeming to be unable to provide anymore information without distressing herself, Terra ended her sentence.

"You can't control your powers if you can't concentrate," Robin stated for her. "It's not a horrible thing. I can't think straight without sleep, it's not like-"

"You don't understand," Terra cut him off, shaking her head. "If you can't control yourself, you'll say a few stupid things and maybe you'll trip over something. If I lose control . . ." Her face sank and turned so gloomy Robin worried she'd cry.

Robin fell quiet and put his hand on her shoulder. "Why don't I go look for some hot chocolate or something for you? Something to help you calm down enough to sleep for awhile?"

Terra nodded, so he stood. "I'll be right back." He had no idea where Slade kept food, but he assumed there would have to be some somewhere. Slade didn't seem human all the time, but he really was, and therefore had to eat. Robin wandered back into Rose's bedroom and caught her and Slade in the middle of talking, but they stopped upon his arrival. "Where's the kitchen?" Robin asked. "Terra needs something."

Slade seemed annoyed at his request and said, without emotion, "Rose, show Robin to the kitchen."

Rose frowned and said, "What am I, your personal tour guide?" She stood up with a huffy breath and walked out of her room in hast. Robin followed her until she led him into a recognizable room set up: a refrigerator, cupboards, a sink, and a stove. "So what do you want anyway?" Rose asked him. "We don't have anything good to eat, trust me, I end up with cereal for dinner a lot."

"Hot chocolate mix, tea, warm milk?" Robin asked in a pleasant tone, hoping to ease Rose's bad mood away.

"For that girl?" Rose smiled. "How cute." She jumped up on the countertops and opened a cupboard. She jumped down, slammed it shut and threw a packet of hot chocolate mix at Robin. "There you go, boy wonder, one mix of hot cocoa." She turned, grabbed a cup from another cupboard, handed it to him and then turned to leave the room. As she walked out, she said, "I assume you're smart enough to find the milk."

Robin frowned. He hated being talked down to, and Rose seemed good at it. He set the packet and cup down and took the milk out from the refrigerator. He filled the cup, put it in the microwave it for two minutes, then added the chocolate powder. After stirring, he brought the cup back to Terra.

She was waiting for him just as he'd left her. He sat down next to her and went to hand her the cup, before he realized she couldn't take it. He was going to remove a weapon from his belt to cut her free, but she stopped him with a head shake. "Don't bother," she said. "Just leave me for now. If my hands are tied it's harder for me to do something stupid." Robin understood that by this, she meant she needed her hands to use her powers most of the time, and if she couldn't use them, there was less risk of losing control. He sighed. Although he understood her point, he didn't agree with it. Robin held the cup to her lips and let her sip.

Terra got through about three fourths of the cup before she told Robin it was enough. She fell back onto the pillow and closed her eyes. He set the cup aside and pulled the blanket over her. For the next few minutes, he sat beside her and occasionally glanced over to see the blanket move up and down with her breathing. How was it that she was able to sleep almost anywhere? From what he'd overheard, she'd slept everywhere from in caves to under trees in the park. Slade's lair had to be no different on the comfort level. Without thinking, he raised his hand to her head and slid his fingers through her hair.

He still didn't understand why he felt so awake at such an early hour. _I should be sleeping like her,_ he thought. Something was stopping him-but it couldn't be insomnia, could it? That was Slade's problem, not his.

"I don't suppose you too have taken a sudden liking to her?"

The voice caught Robin off guard and he jolted his head up, to meet Slade's eye. He removed his hand from Terra and held his wrist in his other palm, as if scolding himself.

"And it's funny, Robin, how you left her tied up. I'd have to say I'm almost proud."


	12. Chapter 12

In a dreamy haze, Terra stirred, her eyes shutting tighter than they were during her natural resting state. In her mind, a nightmare had brewed and was consuming her whole. A light layer of sweat formed on her forehead and she rubbed her nose further into the pillow. Her hands unconsciously moved up to her neck, drawing herself close to her own body in a last attempt at protection.

Robin had taken to watching Slade's screens of a sleeping Jump City, mostly as an excuse not to sit besides Terra as she slept. His mind had become troubled by Slade's last words about Terra and now he was fine with avoiding her, to avoid himself. _She can take care of herself_, he thought sternly with bent eyebrows. He shoved his hands into his pockets and rested his sleepless eyes back on the monitors. _Boring,_ he commented to himself, _how does Slade do this all day and night? _

Now Terra's face was towards the black abyss of the ceiling, her eyes still shut. Her mouth was open as her body moved along with her heavy breaths. Her hands clenched at the blanket Robin had shielded her with and squished the fabric into tight bunches in her palms. Her hair was spread across her face and over the pillow, onto Slade's cold floor, but she didn't notice. After a large inhalation, her mouth opened wide into a full scream that echoed through the entire hideout. Her eyes flashed open as soon as the sound left her lips and she stared up to the blackness above her. It was nothing, just the room, just herself, just the ceiling. . . .

Embarrassed at her vocalization, Terra sat up and wrapped her hands around herself and waited for someone to complain to her. _You're stupid,_ she told herself, _that was only a nightmare._ Though it still lingered in her body and she noticed her hands shaking.

Soon enough, Robin came back into the area, his feet carrying him quickly. "What's wrong?" he asked. "I heard a scream." He continued towards her then sat down on one knee once he was close enough.

His hair gel, Terra noted, was wearing out with time. It looked a little limp, then again, she imagined hers looked equally as bad and therefore she didn't care to mention anything. It was messy and loose strands slipped over her face. She swatted at them but it didn't do much. "I just had a nightmare," she said, her tone defensive. "I'm fine, okay? Go back to whatever you were doing. I'm just gonna go back to sleep."

Robin raised an eye brow and folded his arms. "Terra, you screamed like someone was trying to kill you. That's not really normal, I just want to make sure everything's fine." He turned away, thought for a moment, then offered, "Maybe you could tell me about your nightmare."

Terra sent him a huffy breath and folded her arms as well. She stayed like that for awhile but eventually turned to him, her blue eyes darker than normal. "Fine," she said, "You wanna know? There was fire everywhere and I was stuck at the bottom of some endless pit of it. There was a huge coffin on a rock I was standing on . . ." She trailed off, turned away and closed her eyes. "Beast Boy was standing at the edge of the pit from above, calling my name and I guess he was looking for me. I tried to call back to let him know I was stuck but he couldn't hear me. Then Slade came."

"What'd he do?" Robin asked, urging her to continue.

"He came into the fire pit thing. He was able to walk right through the flames, they didn't hurt him at all. But I noticed Beast Boy saw me then, but he couldn't move because the fire hurt him. He had some burnt marks already, like he'd tried to move forwards but had to stop."

Robin looked away and took a deep breath, trying not to look concerned. "Why did you scream?" he asked. "What happened next?"

Terra frowned and Robin saw tears form at the bottoms of her eyes. "I tried to get away from Slade by running into the flames, but . . . but . . . they only burnt me. I could feel their heat, Robin, it was awful. It was like . . . like hell." She buried her face in her hands, elbows propped up on her knees. "I-I still feel them," she choked out. "Everywhere, all around me, like they're eating me."

Robin bit his lip and and chewed on it without noticing. What was he supposed to tell her? There was no logical reason to assure her that was a normal nightmare. As far as he was concerned, something was seriously scary. "Uh, I . . . I think maybe you just didn't . . . get enough sleep," he said, hoping she'd buy it.

Terra didn't for one second and snapped back, "You asked."

"Sounds like someone's totally lost it," said Rose. Robin and Terra turned to look at her, frowns on their faces. "I mean it. It sounds completely psycho." She shrugged her shoulders then headed off, back to wherever she'd come from after hearing the scream herself. "I'm sorry I got up and came all the way over here to hear_ that_."

Terra narrowed her eyes and wanted to stand up and tell Rose a piece of her mind but her lack of strength stopped her. She felt limp, like a broken doll or a moth without a light to fly near. Slowly, she slid back down onto the floor and let her head rest against the pillow once more. She knew it sounded crazy. She could tell Robin thought it was even a little mad. It wasn't worth telling any more.

Robin tried asking her a few more questions but she was silent and bluntly ignored him each time, pretending to be asleep again. He gave up within about ten minutes and went back to Slade's screens. He noticed Slade, however, was now missing from the scene.

From out of the darkness on the other side of the room, just as Robin left, Slade approached Terra, knowing she was still conscious. "Your dream, my dear, is quite accurate," he said in a sly tone, hiding a smirk beneath his mask. "The Titans are limited on how much they can truly help you, but I, on the other hand . . ." He stopped to put his hand under her small chin, to raise it from the pillow. He wasn't going to let her pull the same ignoring act on him. "I can help you, always."

Painfully, Terra watched him as he spoke but never let him see any kind of agreement in her. "I don't believe you," she said, almost in a whisper. Her eyes were too exhausted to show anger and instead looked lifeless. "You may have helped me control my powers . . . but they've helped me become _me_, Slade, and that's just what you tried to stop. You tried to make me just like you."

Frustrated with her lack of enthusiasm, Slade removed his hand from her face and let her head drop. She fell without hesitation but used her arms to push herself back up. "I know they couldn't have ever trained me the way you did," she said, a strange type of gratitude in her voice. Her long hair spilled over the pillow's edges and onto the cement. "But they cared for me like I actually belonged with them and no one's ever done that. And I know it was wrong, now, to let you convince me I didn't belong with them. But you were just the first to act like you cared. You were the faker, but they were the truth . . . it just took me so long to realize." Fatigued, she sighed, and let herself descend to the pillow once more.

Author Note: I'd really like to thank all my readers again. You guys are great and I really appreciate all the favorites and reviews.

I apologize for the lack of update for awhile, but I hope you enjoy this new chapter.

Believe it or not, Terra's dream was actually a real dream I had. D: It was scary but at least it inspired something.


	13. Chapter 13

Jittering and staging around, Robin finally came to the conclusion that something was wrong with him. The connection that Slade had caused it was still missing from his mental notes, but he was putting pieces together one at a time. He watched Slade wander back into the room, his shoulders stiff but slouched, as if he'd experienced some sort of defeat. Slade seated himself back in his chair, put both arms on the armrest, and brought up one hand to prop up his head, covering part of his mask. He sighed.

"What's wrong?" Robin asked, folding his arms. He didn't really care to help Slade solve his problems, he was curious for a personal reason. It made him feel selfish, but if he was to improve his situation, knowledge was vital. Perhaps Slade was experiencing a weakness that could lead him back home.

Slade didn't answer and instead turned, seeming to be lost in concentration.

Frustrated with no one talking to him, Robin took a seat himself. It just wasn't his day, was it? Terra wouldn't talk to him any further and now neither would Slade. Soon, the city would be light again and he wondered what task was awaiting him then. After the thought passed, he remembered his team. _They're clueless,_ he thought, scowling at no one in particular. _I didn't get the chance to tell them anything and I should have. I should have ripped Slade's microphone out of my ear while I had the chance and told them they needed to help us. _The images of all their faces, friendly and always ready to take on anything, poured into his mind. They had no way of knowing, only minor clues that would lead them to nothing. They knew it was Slade but they had no idea where he was. He could have just left a cryptic note, something, anything, to let them know what to do-but he didn't. Robin huffed out a breath and clenched his fists. Why did he always see the solution too late?

After a very long time, Robin estimated a half hour, Slade stood up and looked at him, breaking his trance of regrets. "I'll have Rose escort her back to Titan's Tower once the sun rises," he said.

Robin stood as well and paused. "You're not serious," he said, assuming Slade was making another, typical cruel joke.

"I'm serious," Slade argued, his tone peeved that Robin didn't take his word the first time. "I've got what I need." Without being specific, he watched Robin, his hands folded behind his back. Robin knew what he meant-he had him. Slade was certain it was the best decision, and the least dangerous to his plans. Without their leader, the Titans were usually disorganized and confused, making them far less of a threat. Sending Terra back would only make them more worried and scattered, to his advantage, he hoped. They'd now know what happened and be even more overwhelmed by their feelings. Too anxious, he hoped, to fight him.

"So you're going to let her go?" he asked, a pain of excitement in his body.

"Don't be so hopeful," Slade said. "I'm letting her back to the Tower. I'm keeping in her in mind, don't doubt me, Robin. She's not entirely free." He looked down to the ground, avoiding eye contact for the moment. "But you and I need to have a short talk about what you're to do when the sun rises, after Terra is returned."

Robin's face went sour and he folded his arms. As he thought.

In a few hours, Rose shook Terra awake. Terra reacted by swatting blindly and she managed to get Rose on the side of the face. She let out a groan of disapproval but didn't say anything. She wanted to get her out of here as soon as possible, so whatever it took was fine for her. "Wake up, stupid," she said. "I'm not trying to kill you. Come on, get up."

Terra pushed herself into a sitting position. "What do you want?" she asked. "I'm not doing anything for you, not-"

Rose glared and silenced her. "I'm taking you back home," she snapped. "Let's hurry up and go." To her surprise, Terra shook her head with a melancholy frown and turned away. "What?" Rose asked, putting her hands on her hips. "Are you crazy? Let's go already!"

"I was thinking," said Terra, "and I'm not leaving without Robin with me. He's got a team to lead and friends to take care of. Friends who know him more than they know me. Jump City's going to be way more upset about the leader of the Titans missing, or in alliance with Slade, than some random girl like me. If anything, I'd stay to replace him." Her face fell significantly and she shut her mouth to avoid talking while feeling choked up. "I-I've got a pretty bad reputation around here anyway, it's better if I just stay here, or, if I just go somewhere else, maybe they won't remember, or-"

Rose rolled her eyes and sighed. "You've got some serious problems, don't you?" she asked. While Terra fought back tears from her comment, she sat down, realizing she wouldn't be up and out as planned. "You also have a team to go back to and friends to take care of. Maybe Robin's the coveted leader, so what? That's like saying none of the others matter too. You can't really have a team with one person, you know. And forget your reputation. You can always make up for it by showing everyone you've changed." She stopped talking and looked off. "I'm not going to be your fortune cookie, telling you how it is. Do whatever you want." She shrugged. It was not her job to give people pep talks.

Terra's tears dried and she thought, not responding for some time. For what seemed like forever to Rose, she listened to Terra's quiet breathing and her slight shifts in position. Terra could feel her heart beating and she put her hand to her chest, just over her heart. Her hair fell in-between her fingers and she played with the strands in-between her thumb and forefinger. Her focus blurred as she drifted into deep contemplation. The world, to her, was too fast to keep track of. Thoughts flew into her mind, then back out, then back in again, like waves rolling up on a beach. She could barely keep track, but soon they formed a clear idea. An unusual strength filled her as the idea settled in.

Finally, Terra stood without a word, her eyes glued on the darkness that led out of Slade's hideout. "Let's go," she said, her voice unusually coated with confidence. "I've got a city to take care of." She wasn't speaking to Rose-more to herself.

Rose raised her eyebrows and felt a loss of words. _She has something to take care of suddenly?_ she thought. _This girl's got some weird motivations. But, _she reminded herself, _at least they're motivations this time. I was getting sick of her pitying herself. _Most of all, Rose had worried she would never be able to get her out. Then she'd be the one who would have to deal with all her upset fits and she was not prepared to be a babysitter.

Rose led Terra outside, and as soon as the morning sun fell on her face, a tiny smile came to Terra. Rose didn't bother asking why, but she did notice, and thought it was a little weird. Pushing her hair behind her ears, Terra followed Rose back to the Tower, through streets noisy with honking car horns and people chattering. Terra stopped as they were approaching the bay and looked to Rose. "I can't take myself back now," she said, boldness consuming her voice. She put one hand on her hip and the wind blew her hair as a quick breeze passed. "I've got it. Plus, I don't want you snooping around our house." Terra frowned at her like she was already guilty of a crime.

Rose held up her hands in feigned defense. "Well, sorry," she said with a hint of sarcasm. "Didn't mean to intrude upon your royal territory." _I liked this girl better when she was crying,_ she thought. _Her confidence is driving me insane, she's acting like the queen of the world all of the sudden._ She turned then, before Terra had a chance to complain again, and began her short trip back to Slade and Robin, thinking more of how Terra's mixed behaviors were getting on her nerves. As her feet carried her away, she couldn't help but wonder what had caused Terra to switch moods so suddenly. Something must have clicked in her mind, but she wasn't sure what. Sometimes she wished she had something to protect herself. She stopped to look back at the Tower. "Good luck, whatever you're doing," she said, even though she knew Terra couldn't hear her. In the distance, she saw the small figure of a girl rise up in front of the sunlit bay on a piece of earth.

Author Note: In response to recent reviews, I guess I'll try working on this-I could use some relaxation, anyway. I've been sick and irrationally busy, so writing without having to put extreme thought into what I'm doing will be good for me I guess. I hope you enjoy tout le monde~


	14. Chapter 14

Beast Boy's eyes grew nearly to the size of watermelons as he saw a familiar shape approaching Titan's Tower. His mouth dropped open and he bounced away from the window exclaiming "Dudes!" Starfire, Raven and Cyborg turned around, their faces solemn from lack of sleep and worry.

"Has something of interest appeared?" Starfire wondered, yawning. She ran her fingers through her hair, frowning. She needed to brush it or take a shower. It had been too long of a night for all of them.

Beast Boy shook his head, but took back his notion and nodded instead. "Y-yeah, uh, I mean, not interesting, but great! Just come see!" He sped back to the window, followed by the rest of the Titans.

Seeing their faces through the glass, Terra glided over to the window, smiled at her teammates and waved.

All of their faces were wide-eyed, but otherwise blank, as if they thought they were for sure seeing an illusion. Raven closed her eyes tight then opened again, to still see Terra. "Looks like she's the real thing," she said.

Terra saw Beast Boy's lips form the word "Dudes!" again, and a grin took over his face. He waved her inside, gesturing up at the roof.

Terra agreed with a nod and landed on the roof, putting the boulder aside. In just a few seconds, Beast Boy and Starfire broke through the doors that led to the roof of the Tower and came running towards her. As they both hugged her simultaneously, Raven and Cyborg joined the group on the roof. Then, Beast Boy and Starfire fired questions.

"Please, friend Terra, you are unharmed?"

"Dude, I thought I'd never see you again, we all thought Slade killed you guys and-"

"Robin is not with you? Where has he gone?"

"No offense, Terra, you look kinda bad. What'd he do to you?"

Terra took a breath and held her hands up in front of her chest. "Wait," she said, trying to sort out both voices separately in her head. "Just, uh, one at a time, okay?" Beast Boy and Starfire nodded.

"We are filled with joy from your return," said Starfire, at a much slower pace this time. "However, it concerns me that Robin has not returned with you." She wore a frown and looked away.

It was Beast Boy's turn, and he repeated, "Yeah, I'm glad you're back too. But what happened? I mean, we tried to pick up on your signals on the monitors and we ran all over the city, all night, looking for you guys. Found nothing."

Terra folded her arms. "Slade . . . he kinda . . . he kept Robin." She chewed on her lip a little, nervously pulling at the fabric of her shirt. "He let me go in replace of Robin." This time, she felt worse about what she said. "But I let myself go back for one reason." She looked up at the team. "I know where he is and I know we can go get him back." She tried to smile, to show some hope for the situation, but it didn't work well so she let her lips fall back to a frown. "As for what happened, I can't really explain now, okay? Trust me. Right now, we need to get Robin back. My story-_our _story-can wait."

"So you know his location?" asked Cyborg, walking closer with Raven. "We can go grab him right now."

Terra shook her head. "It's complicated, but listen. I think we should wait a day to get him. If we went right now, it would be too obvious. Slade probably suspects we'll show up. If we wait, maybe he'll let his guard down."

There was silence from the team, but eventually Starfire spoke up. "But could not Robin be in danger, alone, with Slade?" She cupped her hands together behind her back, almost bursting with anxiety.

"I know, I care about him a lot too, okay? But I'm trying to do what's best, because I care."

Beast Boy looked away in confusion, but didn't say anything. Starfire just nodded, as if too worried to do much else.

"Besides," said Terra, "It looks like you guys could use some sleep. Just saying."

"We've been up ever since you two disappeared," Raven commented, knowing what Terra said was the truth. "You're right." She paused. She didn't like admitting Terra was right to instruct them on what to do. "Why don't we get some rest?" She glanced to each face to the team.

They came to an agreement, after some light talking, to have breakfast then rest during the day. They could plan during nighttime, for a few hours, then go for Robin sometime the next day. Even though she wasn't too tired, Terra knew she should try to get quality sleep as well. Her night had been rough, not to mention uncomfortable.

Wanting to take a shower after laying around on Slade's cold and probably dirty floor, Terra prepared a pile of her pajamas and a towel. She threw them over her arm and headed down the hall to the bathroom. Outside of the bathroom door was Beast Boy, with pajamas and a towel slung over his arm as well. He leaned against the wall and looked lifeless, but perked up when Terra approached. "Hey," he said. "Looks like we'll be waiting. Star's taking forever."

Terra smiled at him. She had a strange appreciation for the typical ways the team functioned-always waiting for someone to get out of the bathroom, always fighting over the sofa, always wondering who drank the last soda. It was nice to be back. "It's alright," she said. "I can handle the wait."

Beast Boy grinned and played with the towel he held, pretending to inspect it. Now he was trapped with Terra until Star got out of the bathroom. No, not trapped-it was a better thing than trapped-but he did feel stuck on words.

"So, um." Terra's attempt at starting a sentence failed, so she slid over next to him on the wall and focused her gaze down the hallway.

It was quiet for a little bit longer, but Beast Boy finally found a topic. "What happened to you guys with Slade?" He knew it was the worst topic ever, and she probably didn't want to talk about it, but he wanted to know.

Terra took a breath. She had to tell him now. "He wants us back as his apprentices, Beast Boy." It was still quiet ten seconds later. Beast Boy hadn't said anything. She turned to see his expression, but his head was down, looking away. "But I told him to back off, I guess. I don't really remember." He still looked somber, silent, strange. "Anyway, he gave up on me and kept Robin instead. He only used us both as motivation to not leave the other. Okay, more Robin. He knew Robin wouldn't let Slade have me as an apprentice again. So Robin took my place."

Finally, Beast Boy raised his head. "It's not fair, Terra. He used you as a useless toy again. That's all you were there for? To motivate Robin to join him? It's stupid." He folded his arms, angry.

"Doesn't it bother you even a little that Robin's stuck there now?" She frowned. Why was it always about her? Besides, she knew as well as anyone else, it was her choice to be Slade's toy. She messed up, it was true, but it wasn't because Slade forced her-or maybe it was. She didn't want to think about it. "I shouldn't have left him, because he didn't leave me. He helped me, even when he had problems of his own to deal with."

"He helped you?" Beast Boy thought a moment and looked at her. "What'd he do?"

"I don't know," Terra said, growing a little uneasy. "He sat with me on the floor, talked to me, made sure I didn't get hurt."

"On the floor?" asked Beast Boy. He made a confused, slightly concerned face.

"Yeah, that's where Slade told him to sleep. Slade gave Robin a blanket and pillow on the floor."

"So where did you sleep?"

"On the floor there." After a second, it occurred to her that Beast Boy thought she slept with Robin, at the same time in the same spot. To clarify, she added, "But Robin didn't sleep there. He was up all night doing something, but I don't know what. I was sleeping." She blushed a little and hoped he didn't notice. She didn't even know why, so she was embarrassing herself.

"Oh," said Beast Boy. "Well, I'm glad someone took care of you."

"Me too," said Terra. She was about to tell him about the white-haired girl who was hanging around Slade's place, but she stopped, realizing he could use some cheering up after the bad news. "But, Beast Boy, look." She put her hand on his shoulder, hoping he'd turn to her. "You've helped me so much, through a lot of things. You know a lot about me, a lot of bad about me, but you still want to be my friend. I mean, that's . . . not something everyone does. A lot of people give up. I think I would even give up on me." She frowned and closed her eyes.

"Don't give up," Beast Boy told her. He did look up at her, but she still had her eyes shut. "We can set this straight again. Slade should've known to stop trying the first time we kicked his ass. But he's crazy, so what can we expect?" He smiled, and she opened her eyes again and smiled with him.

"I wish I had your optimism," Terra said. "But I guess cheering people up is more your thing, not mine."

"You can make me feel better. You always do."

"I do?"

"Sure, of course you do." He smiled again, but it was a softer smile, a quieter one.

Terra blushed and tried to turn away, but Beast Boy held her shoulder in place. She looked back at him, nervous. What was he trying to do? He raised the hand on her should up into her hair and brushed it. All she could hear was the sound of the shower spraying out water in the background. She wished he'd say something, because she couldn't think of anything.

Suddenly, the shower noise stopped. Terra heard the shower curtain get pulled away. She felt his gloved fingers on her cheek. Before she had time to think, Beast Boy leaned in close to her. His lips barely reached hers when the bathroom door slid open. They both stepped away from each other, startled and confused, their faces light pink.

"You may use the shower now," said Starfire, dripping wet in a towel, oblivious. "I have finished. I apologize for my time, but I was very unclean." She grinned and stepped between them, continuing down the hall to her bedroom.

Author note:

I'm sorry for the BBxT stuff here, for those readers who are reading for other reasons than this pairing.

But they are one of my favorites.

I promise I'll finish this soon, ASAP. I should be punished for being so slow. D'x


	15. Chapter 15

After sleeping all day, each Titan felt well rested very early in the morning. The first to wake was Terra, who got dressed and set out into the operations room at three in the morning to plan. From a drawer, she took a few pens and a paper of yellow lined paper. Although her work was scribbled and inartistic, in about thirty minutes she'd drawn what she remembered to be the path to Slade's hiding spot within the city. She turned the sheet of paper to a clean one and wrote each of the team's names, excluding Robin's. Beneath each name she wrote a loose idea of how they could function in the rescue mission. It wasn't her specialty, but under the pressure, she managed to get down an intelligent attack plan. However, her plan didn't involve much attacking at all. She knew if they were loud and obvious with their entrance to Slade's lair, he would only be ready for them sooner. The deception she knew they somehow had to accomplish was to be quiet and misleading. When messing with someone as sly as Slade, they had to play with his own rules on conduct. She knew them well from training under him-now it was time to use them against him instead of against her friends.

Raven was the second to emerge from her room and into the kitchenette for tea. Terra stood up and brought the plans over to her. "I think I've got something, Raven," she said, handing over the notepad. "It may not be the best, but I think I know what we have to do to get Robin out safely, without any trouble . . . what do you think?"

While her tea was heating, Raven glanced over the papers. She wasn't expecting anything too amazing, especially since Terra usually didn't even know how to plan for herself, let alone a whole team. To her surprise, it seemed completely logical and thorough. In fact, there were more than a few good ideas written down.

Since Raven didn't show any signs of annoyance or distrust in her work, Terra stepped a little closer and Raven handed back the notepad. "Let's wait until the others wake up," Raven said, "then you should explain to everyone what we're doing. The more we all understand, the less likely we'll make a mistake." Terra nodded, holding her work against her chest.

Within forty minutes or so, the rest of the team was up. Terra explained her plans in detail over a light breakfast of toast and cereal. She passed around her notepad for everyone to look at, and set it in the center of the table when everyone had seen it. "Now for my explanation," she said. "I know tricking and deceiving isn't really our thing, as Teen Titans. But listen-it's Slade's thing, and if we get him with his own tactics, he'll be caught off guard. He expects us to come bursting through his walls firing attacks every way we turn. But we're not going to do that." She smiled. "We're going to lie to him, trick him into a false sense of security, then grab Robin right under his nose."

Beast Boy, Cyborg and Starfire all looked at her with blank, confused and slightly worried faces. Raven was passive and unresponsive.

"I know it seems weird, but we've got to at least try it, okay?" Terra asked. "Trust me, for now." She didn't like the way her last sentence came out and made a regretful face, frowning and looking away. She changed it quickly, but it still felt odd to her.

They nodded together like obedient elementary school children, waiting patiently for her to continue. No one said anything about her comment, because it was only Terra who noticed it could be taken strangely.

"You've all read your parts, right?" Terra moved along. "Now, this is how it's going to go, from the beginning. Pay attention. . . ." She trailed off into her plan, making sure not to omit any details.

Several questions, misunderstandings and one hour later, the team was prepared. It was around five in the morning, and none of them were tired. Beast Boy stretched over one of the chairs in front of the counter. Cyborg turned to look out at the city. It was still dark, but the hazy orange sunrise was slipping over the horizon. Black birds flew in front of the window, their wings a blur of motion. He turned back. Starfire tapped her fingers on the countertop. The air was still.

Terra never was the leader of anything, but for the meantime, the team had no choice but to accept her guidance. While Robin was absent, someone had to take his place and format a plan. No one suspected it would be Terra, but she felt like she had to make it up to them. They were letting her, trusting her to do the right thing without objection. For every time she'd let them down in the past, it was her chance to really prove she could help them. She tried not to let it show, but she was becoming more nervous by the minute. She didn't know how to be a leader and she was afraid for her team, more than anything, if she had missed a loophole in her plot where everything could go wrong. Swallowing hard, her body stiff, she wondered if this is how Robin felt all the time. _He's so used to it, and so much stronger than I am, it probably doesn't bother him at all,_ she thought, wrapping her arms around herself.

In the back of each of their minds, worry was approaching. If Slade didn't believe their initial trick, the entire plan would fail. Terra pressed her lips together and folded her arms. _She_ was the start of the initial trick, and it was a dangerous idea. It was going to be hard, but he had trained her to lie very well. The Titans were the first to believe her, the first to confirm that her hard work had paid off. Now it was the real challenge-could she deceive the same person that taught her to be deceiving?

Author Note:

Short chapter-but hopefully it's meaningful.

I think I'm getting sick... Sigh.

And I've realized it's been about a year since I started this story! Wow, kind of a long time for a fan fiction. Or is it? I wouldn't really know.


	16. Chapter 16

The city was quiet when they left. Birds sang and rustled through tree's leaves, interrupting the otherwise silent atmosphere. As the sun rose above the horizon, turning the wakening sky a mild violet and pink, the Titans crept out of the Tower and into the streets. Only a few cars were heading out to long days of work and only a few lights were on in the windows of apartment buildings.

They followed the path as directed by Terra, keeping their voices down all the way. It didn't matter if anyone around them overheard, but they were weary of Slade's hidden cameras. As they grew nearer, though, they took the plan into the first step. Terra stopped on the street, her back to what she knew was a hidden camera belonging to Slade. It was hard to detect, but she had found its location on the way back home yesterday. The rest of the team stood in front of her, some shaking their heads and holding their hands up.

"Listen, Terra, we can get him back by ourselves," said Cyborg, a concerned expression on his face. "We'll work as a team."

"No, you _can't_. Slade won't let you. I have to go back, now." Terra took one step back towards the camera.

Finally, Beast Boy said, "Terra, don't. You don't have to get Robin back to us by sacrificing yourself. Please, wait!"

"No, I'm going, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!" Without further staged arguing, Terra turned and ran down the street, abandoning the rest of the team. Feigning frustration, the team walked in the opposite direction, pretending to head back home.

Swallowing a lump in her throat, hoping Slade bought their act, Terra continued to where she knew he was hiding. Little did he know, but the Titans were also doing the same-they were taking another way, a longer way, which they had worked out together using the city map. The air she breathed in was cold and sharp, like most cool mornings_. I hope you saw that,_ she said to Slade in her mind. _And I hope you believe me._

Standing in front of his screens, hands behind his back with his wrists held together, Slade was thinking. Not of Robin this time, but Terra's actions seemed curiously strange-then again, he decided, she was a strange girl herself, and was expected to do strange things. It was possible she was acting on a sense of justice that wasn't quite right. He was hopeful.

Robin was pacing around, a frown on his face. It seemed like the scowl may have finally and actually engraved into his face, permanently. Was it worth it, he wondered, being a hero, a leader of a team the city counted on, if he was now trapped with a villain as his personal sidekick? Did he mean anything anymore, to anyone, if this was the case? It wasn't being forced into apprenticeship by Slade that bothered him. It was that he could no longer do what he believed he was truly meant to. He couldn't protect his friends, his city or anyone else. All his training was worthless if he was going to use his techniques against things he used to fight to protect. It was only him and Slade now-Rose had gone, to where, he had no idea. But it was clear she was no longer there, wherever she went. Maybe she knew something was going to happen and left so she wouldn't be caught in between it.

Robin found Slade and said, "So what are you going to make me do, anyway? What do you want to steal this time? Lives, or objects?"

Slade held up his hand, signaling Robin to be quiet. "Nothing as of now, Robin. I've got something much more interesting to consider at the moment. Why don't you wait a little with me? You may be pleasantly surprised. . . ."

Robin let out a sharp, annoyed breath. He wished Slade would stop his vague talking, because it was more irritating than helpful or informative. It was never direct with him. There was never a clear response of any kind. It had to all be mysterious, cryptic, and hazy. He wandered off, letting Slade to his own affairs. He definitely did not want to wait with him.

Terra came to the doors of Slade's hideout. When she pushed on them, they opened, as if no security had been in place. She knew better though. Slade had probably seen her and unlocked them himself. _That's good, then,_ she thought. _It means he saw me earlier._ She headed further in, her footsteps echoing off the bare walls.

She saw him where she imagined, in front of the screens, watching in silence. "Slade," she breathed, panting from running. "You've got to let Robin go. He doesn't belong here with you."

Slade turned to face her, excited. He couldn't imagine where she was going with that. "Why is that, Terra?"

She took a deep breath, pausing. "Because," she said, "_I _do. I belong with you, not him. He's the leader of the Titans, and I'll never replace him, or any of them. I'll never even be like a real part of their team. But I can be a part of yours." She made herself look wide-eyed and dazed, hoping for the appearance of having just made a great discovery about herself. It was horrible hearing her say what she was, but it was their only chance at getting to Slade like he knew how to get to them. He knew what they wanted most, their deepest desires, and he knew how to play with them. But Terra also knew what he wanted and she was going to show him he wasn't the only one who could play with them.

Slade fell quiet for a long time, so long that Terra worried he knew she was lying and was just thinking about how to get her out of the way. But instead, he put his hand under her chin again, lifting her face up to his. She tried her best not to look nervous. It would ruin her entire plan if she did. "Now, tell me," he said, "why just the other day, you told me the exact opposite of that."

She knew what he meant and was caught off guard. He meant when she'd told him off, half asleep, on the floor before she left. It wasn't that long ago, but when planning, she completely forgot about it. She had to make something up, something unplanned for. "I-I was . . . just so sure you wanted Robin more than me, so I tried to convince myself I could go back with the Titans and take his place. But being with them, I realized, it's his spot, not mine. Mine was here . . ." She closed her eyes and finished, "All along." Originally she had thought crying while admitting this false truth to him would be difficult. The more convincing she could be, the better. She closed her eyes tight and let tears fall onto her face. They came so easily because it was terrifying to hear herself speak like she was to Slade, fake or not. _Let's make this end soon,_ she thought for comfort. "I was so confused, before, I'm so sorry. Let Robin go."

When Terra felt his arm move around her small body, she tried her best not to cringe. Was he hugging her to try to further encourage her acceptance of being his apprentice, or was he actually trying to comfort her? She hoped it was the first. Otherwise she might actually feel bad for him. She held on to his utility belt, as it was at her chest level since he was so much taller, and pulled herself closer to him. He smelled like metal and dust. _Hurry up, Titans,_ she thought. _I can't take much more of this._

"I'll let him go," said Slade, releasing Terra from his unwanted grip at the same time. She was relieved. "I'll let you go free of my control as well."

Terra glanced up at him, sending him a puzzled look. "Really?" she asked. This was not what she had expected. Not the last part of what he said.

He moved to his control panel, switched a couple of levels and typed in a short command, and Terra felt a part of her back loosen. She reached to her shoulder and caught Slade's chip. It'd fallen off.

"As long as you're so willing to stay here with me," he said, "there shouldn't be any reason to leave that on you. After all, it was for Robin, not you. It was to convince him to come to me in order to save you. But it seems you're more willing than he'll ever be, therefore, it's not needed." Slade took it from her hand and tossed it into a box beneath the control area she assumed was trash.

She couldn't help but smile a little. Everything was going far better than they had thought. They wouldn't have to worry about how to get that off her now, since Slade did it himself. _I guess I'm not so bad at this lying thing,_ thought Terra, her smile growing. Now it was the Titan's turn to step in.

Author Note:

I had originally planned this part to be all one chapter, but I think it will be better broken into two. Also I made Slade a little creepier than originally intended, sorry about that. It's for writing purposes. ~ ._.'


	17. Chapter 17

Robin wandered back into the room at this point, fed up by the fact that he didn't know what Slade was up to. He wished he didn't feel the need to solve so many problems all at once, because it really had a way of making him lose his mental stability. Seeing Terra, he raised his eyebrows and asked, "What are you doing back here?" He was worried Slade had changed his mind about letting her go.

Terra didn't say anything, because she knew there wasn't any way to let Robin know the real reason why she was back without also revealing it to Slade. She sent him only a blank look, and stood beside Slade, tensing up. _The Titans should be here by now,_ she thought, _why aren't they here?_ She couldn't hear any of their voices and no alarms were going off yet. If they didn't show up soon, the plan would backfire.

Slade turned a little and Terra could tell he was going to say something-something that would probably result in much confusion and frustration from Robin. She didn't want him to know the lies she had just told Slade, because they were, after all, untrue. None of that was part of the plan, so she interrupted him, saying, "Wait!"

Slade had no idea what she wanted him to wait for, but he did stop, giving Terra just enough time to think of what to do next. Fortunately, she never needed to use her developing plan, because she detected the sound of footsteps in the distance. She let out her breath in relief and her body relaxed again.

A dark energy shield formed around Robin, and a star bolt shot out from behind it. It hit Slade at such an angle that he was flung back, and Terra used this chance to get away. She took Robin by the arm and pulled him back towards the entrance of Slade's hideout. Although she didn't like leaving the others behind to fight Slade alone, it was how the plan had been formulated, and she had to follow it. It was her task to get Robin back to the Tower, and the others would distract Slade long enough for them to back it back safely.

When they got outside, Robin couldn't keep his curiosity in any longer and he asked, "What just happened?" It was obvious he'd been rescued, but he wanted to know how.

Terra smiled a little and let go of him. "I might've made a plan to get you out," she said.

Robin turned his head a little, giving the idea consideration. "You did?" he asked. "You went back and organized a rescue mission?"

Terra just nodded, and moved along with him through the city. Things seemed fairly calm now, and the sun was out again, sending warm rays of light to her skin. She was quiet until they reached the bay, where she would have to take Robin over with her on a boulder. Using her powers, she ripped up a chunk of the earth by the shore, and moved it over to them. "Didn't want you to have to stick around with him," she said. Her response was delayed, but she didn't care. "Thought I'd do something about it for once. I'm always the one who needs help, or needs rescuing, so it's the least I can do."

Robin stepped up onto the boulder along with her. "Well, you sure caught him completely off guard," he said, grinning a little. "When the rest of the team gets back, I want to hear this plan."

Terra moved them over the bay, then lowered the boulder near the water. It grazed the water's surface and sprayed a light mist of water over their legs, as she directed them back home. "Sure thing," she said. She felt quieter than normal, and everything seemed so still, even though they were moving still. It was like the world had finally stopped moving in super speed and was settling more are slow motion.

"Thanks, by the way," said Robin, stepping off the boulder when they reached the Tower's island.

Terra smiled and put her hands into her pockets, turning so she could see the city over the bay. Although it was just early morning, everything seemed to be bursting with life, and she could hear birds chirping nearby. "Don't worry about it," she said. "I'm just glad we got ourselves out of that situation, again. I swear, he needs to learn, he can't beat us-we're too good for him."

Robin didn't bother to ask what she was referring to, because he understood. It was one of the strongest understandings he had in another person, although it was connected to a bad circumstance. Both of them knew what it felt like to be able to get rid of the weight Slade put on them, and both felt it right then, together.

When the rest of the team returned just a few minutes after, the air was filled with chattering about what had gone on, and how they tricked Slade, and what moves they used. Mostly, it was Beast Boy doing the gloating about the success, with sound effects and dramatic hand motions from Cyborg to further explain in detail. "You should have seen his face when we told him it was all a trick," Beast Boy continued on, with Robin listening in with Terra beside him. "Dude, I don't even know how to explain it. For a guy in a mask, you can sure tell when he's freaked out!"

Raven, although not participating in the dramatic play-by-play of Slade's defeat, listened in. Starfire only occasionally chimed in to offer a detail, because she thought Beast Boy and Cyborg were much better at story telling than she was.

No one knew what happened to Slade after they got Robin out, but no one asked, either. Terra stopped wondering where Rose had gone, because it wasn't important anymore, and such information was useless. They were back together as a team, free of any villainous constraints-that was all that mattered for now. Pizza was ordered, and for the moment it seemed as if everyone was content, oblivious to any of the problems they had faced earlier.

Author Note:

Thanks for reading everyone. I loved all of your support and reviews all the way through-this got WAY more attention than I ever thought it would.

I wish I could have updated sooner, but I just wasn't feeling this story anymore, I kept putting it off...eheh. I suppose that's good because it was at its end anyway.

I've got my own original books to write and I've been focusing on them a lot lately. Perhaps I'll get myself published someday soon. ;D If you want to know more, a link to my deviantart account is on my profile.


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